Simplified: The August Market Fall

The world witnessed a trade upheaval last month, largely owing to China’s attempts to shore up its struggling economy. The scare had been limited to oil traders, hedge fund investors or Chinese bureaucrats, but two weeks ago, it had channelled and transformed itself into a potential global behemoth, threatening to plunge markets further and evoking memories of the last recession. To describe the extent of the same, we present a 10,000 foot view of the unfolded cataclysm as the critical month of September begins with US Fed to decide interest rates and the RBI having its review meeting in the first week.

The Great Fall of China: Boom and Bust

China’s economy has been long suspected of weak growth and the economic and monetary worries resonating from the second largest market in the world has largely contributed to this convoluted state. With ordinary Chinese people starting debt-financed investments in the stock market between June 2014 and May 2015, the Shanghai Composite index rose by over 150 percent and peaked by June this year. The rise was deemed unsustainable and government sprung into action to reinforce the limits it had relaxed in last 5 years. The market endured a crash and has been in free fall since early July.

“China has recessions 'like everybody else'.” -Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University

Culmination into current position began when the decision was made by China to devalue its currency. Catching a lot of people off-guard, for two straight days, China’s central bank allowed the Yuan to fall by 2 percent followed by two further cuts, with what analysts assumed was for propping up exports. China had kept a tight grip on its currency exchange rate for 20-some years. Since March, the Yuan hadn’t moved more than 0.3 percent in a single day. For it to suddenly tumble by 4.4 percent in a matter of days sent shivers through the global markets.

The Current Situation

Only a few sectors have come unscathed from the recent crisis and IT is one of them. "In addition to the recent rupee depreciation, the US economic revival should also help IT sector companies," - Saravana Kumar, Chief Investment Officer - Equity & Debt, LIC Nomura Mutual Fund

With last Monday being exceptionally tumultuous, the Chinese market had toppled around 15 percent of its value over three days until Wednesday, extending a longer-term drop that had wiped out its gains made this year. Other markets followed sharp drops with indexes like Dow Jones showing decline, however, the next few days showed a recovery across world markets as Sensex in India recovered 650 of the 1,625 points it had lost on 24th August. The US market has been recovering the fastest while others show varying degrees of recovery. 

“The fall, though certainly large, was by no means catastrophic by historical standards. But it is having an outsize psychological impact on stock owners because it comes in the context of what's been an overall very "meh" 2015 for stocks. And it was followed by derivatives trading on Sunday night and Monday morning that indicates further declines are in store.” -Matthew Yglesias, Vox

According to Indian media, China's economy is in rout and will be a boon to the Indian stock market but they forget that India had a real estate boom earlier followed by a slump now. Realty firms, builders and debt-funded private power companies have produced stagnation of debts and redundant assets in India’s banking system. If China is in trouble, India isn’t doing too well either. With the global media having their own stock markets closely associated with the Chinese market, their disposition has been quite neutral, perhaps, to avoid a contagion set off by alarmist statements. Nevertheless, the two-day saga managed to shatter the veneer of stability and has given a rise to two opposing takes on the financial standing: a mere correction in the bull market VS the beginning of a bear phase.

Face off: Market Correction vs Impending Collapse

With economies quoting differing gradations of recovery at the fall of the month, some analysts are terming the drastic fall of Chinese stock market as a ‘correction’. The stock market had risen to almost twice in 12 months and the crash has been deemed appropriate to balance the surge. The decline which shaved off almost 25% of the Shanghai Stock Index, it is about 30% higher than it was a year back. For over 20 years, the nation has created itself into a global superpower by relying on growth strategy based on exports. However, world markets just aren’t large enough to foster that rise forever and has enforced the need to transition itself into an economy striving on domestic consumption. The lowering of Yuan are few of the several China’s attempts to initiate a consumption-led growth rather than an export-led growth.

The contrasting view holds stock market collapse as an exemplification of the structural crisis of the Chinese economy. This collapse is similar to the US housing bubble with the Chinese real estate boom consuming huge amounts of steel, cement and other commodities and hiding the real crisis of the Chinese economy. China cut key interest rates and allowed large banks to keep less cash on reserve starting in early September, a move that should make it easier for banks to lend money and send shares soaring in Europe and the US. The lowering of the Yuan is an attempt to reflate the Chinese economy, make their exports more competitive and escape from this impending crisis. Timing is designed to prevent a repeat of the panic selling of the previous two weeks and many expect the move to bring a temporary respite at best.

                                                                                  Time to panic and sell?

Not really. It is generally advised to restrain the temptation. As Alison Griswold from Slate describes, “It’s generally best not to sell stocks after a big drop. “A solid rule of thumb: If you were planning to invest some money anyway, and won’t need it for a long while, then now is as good a time as any to put money in the market. You’re certainly better off buying today than you were two weeks ago.”

For small investors, the mutual fund route is the best way to invest in stocks. But don't let this greed for more extend to stocks. Some stocks might have become penny stocks after the crash so don't be tempted to buy. It doesn't take long for a stock to touch a two-year low or even a five-year low. Worth mentioning is the best practice to follow as advised by Reuters over here. As a responsible global citizen, one should aspire to be prepared for a potential, although unlikely, financial crisis to ensure one isn’t caught off-guard.

Sources:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/25/investing/china-stock-market/index.html

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/08/25/why_did_stocks_plummet_is_it_china_s_fault_what_happens_next_a_crystal_clear.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stocks-set-to-rebound-as-futures-rise-nearly-4-1440504464

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/international-business/Why-the-stock-market-is-so-turbulent/articleshow/48663700.cms

http://www.vox.com/2015/8/23/9195891/china-stock-market-crash

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/international-business/What-to-do-about-that-stock-market-selloff/articleshow/48657564.cms?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-26/china-s-journey-from-new-normal-to-stock-market-crisis-epicenter

http://www.vox.com/2015/8/23/9194057/why-are-stocks-down-august

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/recent-stock-market-crash-what-you-should-do-now/articleshow/48720437.cms

http://newsclick.in/international/china-stock-market-collapse-economy-readjusting-or-tanking

Hiring takes evolution steps with technology

 “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” -Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein had made predictions through his quotes in the 20^th century on technology changing the way the world revolves in the 21^st century.  Indeed technology has evolved at a lickety-split. It has not only changed the way we communicate, exchange information and consume media, but it has also created jobs in field which even Einstein would not have imagined of during his time.

Ask any software engineer five years ago what were those programming languages that he worked on? He would say Java and perhaps a second language, like C++. But today, the number of programming languages you can learn has grown to include Python, Ruby, Swift, and Objective-C, to name just a few.

So a techi job seeker basically needs to keep his/her resume competitive to ensure they are on top of the hiring lists for new job openings. Let us bear in mind that technology evolves faster than humanity changing any trends along its way, which includes hiring. It is important that we keep our skills up to date.

The year 2014 has recorded an upscale hiring across the industries in India. This momentum is going to continue in the coming year as well and Software, Hardware and IT sector will not be left untouched with this upsurge in demand of Talent, claims India’s Job Prediction by PeopleStrong published as a part of India Skills Report 2015. With the President of India, PM Narendra Modi implementing changes such as Digital India and Smart City, hiring trends are bound to increase by 18- 20%.

The forefront of an executive agenda to hire new talents is not just talent retention and acquisition. Talents on several levels are companies’ greatest competitive differentiators. At any given time, 70 percent of your colleagues are looking for a job, but ‘smart’ companies hire only passive candidates thanks to site like LinkedIn and other professional networking sites. Who are these passive candidates? They are the ones who follow a company page and socialize actively on those pages. Talent branding has become equally as important as product and service branding. In the past, the best talent went unnoticed, but now, even those who aren't actively looking for new jobs can be prospects for relevant job openings.

Companies are exploring new media techniques by keeping their websites updated with clear descriptions of the company which provide insights of the company to job seekers. Companies regularly update their social sites with videos, photos, testimonials and employee spotlights to improve talent branding.  

Internal hiring is another trend in the market. Companies will mine their existing workforce to identify high performers that are qualified for new job openings.

A snapshot of the current technology and engineering hiring market reveals several major trends that are creating a challenging landscape for employers and recruiters. Economic factors, changing candidate behaviors and increasing social media usage have converged to reshape the way recruiters and HR staff connect with tech candidates.

Competition is stringent and hiring the wrong person for the job can cost companies money that they could be spending in other areas to help them get ahead. In the technological era, not only do jobseekers need to make themselves attractive to employers, companies also need to strategize ways to attain and retain talent.

References:

http://resources.dice.com/report/three-trends-impacting-hiring-market/

http://www.businessinsider.in/Here-Are-3-Hiring-Trends-That-LinkedIn-Says-You-MUST-Know/articleshow/21040079.cms

http://www.cio.com/article/2923453/careers-staffing/5-hot-trends-in-software-development-hiring.html#slide6

In-D-ia - PM Modi's pet plan of a digital country

According to Digital media stats forecast by We are social, 'In the year 2014 calculating the stats for more than 240 countries around the world, and profiling 30 of the world’s biggest economies in detail, an approx of 7.210 billion population out of which 3.010 billion were active internet users, 2.078 billion active social media accounts and 3.649 billion mobile users. In India there are 243 million internet users. If we were to keep these stats in mind and think of how digital media has and is revolutionizing India, there is one person who comes to our minds, this person has understood the basic and ground rules of digital marketing and has been exploiting this platform to the best use. This person is non other than our Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Right from the parliamentary election till date PM Modi has understood the rapid growth of social media and used the platform to reach out to the citizens of the country. When PM Modi won the elections he received around 76K tweets congratulating him on Twitter using the hashtag, #CongratulationsNamo, this clearly shows how social media has rightfully reached out to the PM's supporters.

Digital technologies hyped, talk of the town, cliched used medium and the most powerful medium. Digital technologies are being increasingly used by us in everyday lives from retail stores to government offices. They help us to connect with each other and also to share information on issues and concerns faced by us. In some cases they also enable resolution of those issues in near real time.
The objective of the Digital India Group is to come out with innovative ideas and practical solutions to realize Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a digital India. Prime Minister Modi envisions transforming our nation and creating opportunities for all citizens by harnessing digital technologies. His vision is to empower every citizen with access to digital services, knowledge and information. This Group will come up with policies and best practices from around the world to make this vision of a digital India a reality.
The digital India week launched by PM Modi on Wednesday urges people to gain knowledge and empower themselves through digital India programme.


The vision of Digital India programme also aims at inclusive growth in areas of electronic services, products, manufacturing and job opportunities etc. The vision of Digital India is centred on three key areas -

(i) Digital Infrastructure as a utility to every citizen

(ii) Governance & services on demand

(iii) Digital Empowerment of citizens


The Digital India programme aims to provide broadband highways, universal access to mobile connectivity, public internet access programme, e-governance: Reforming government through technology, eKranti - Electronic delivery of services, Information for all, Electronics manufacturing: Target net zero imports, IT for jobs and early harvest programmes.

The estimated impact of Digital India by 2019 would be cross cutting, ranging from broadband connectivity in all Panchayats, Wi-fi in schools and universities and Public Wi-Fihotspots. The programme will generate huge number of IT, Telecom and Electronics jobs, both directly and indirectly. Success of this programme will make India Digitally empowered and the leader in usage of IT in delivery of services related to various domains such as health, education, agriculture, banking, etc," the govern ..

References:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/47893380.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
https://mygov.in/group/digital-india/

Monsoon Blues

The monsoons evoke a bag of mixed feelings ranging from mischief, playfulness, fun and romance to misery, gloominess, filthiness and irritation. Some enjoy stepping out in the rain going for long rides, while some enjoy sipping hot beverages and having some snacks and watching a movie, while some others enjoy snuggling under a cozy blanket and some taking a long walk.
Overflowing drains, flooded roads, pot holes, heavy noisy traffic,  fallen trees causing long power cuts could be highly damping for city bound office goers. After a long day at work with these unavoidable circumstances the rains can make you cringe.
Sometimes when we sit at our office desks and watch the rain lash against our windows. We feel lethargic, lazy, moody and sleepy. This is a common seasonal affective disorder. The muggy weather can surely upset us and we could get distracted from our routine tasks.

Here are few things to do to beat office monsoon blues:

Take a break: Working for long hours in a gloomy weather can make one feel exhausted faster. Take a break. Stack your drawers with your favorite snacks, a bottle of hot chocolate (hot chocolate drinks are the best to sip during a cold rainy day). Smile at you fellow colleague or try to find a colleague at the cafeteria with whom you can discuss world news and other happenings.


Choose a bright wardrobe: We will not realize it, but being around dull colors such as black and grey has the same effect as the weather outside. Wear vibrant colors such as shades of red, blue, green, yellow. Decorate your work station with indoor plants, a tiny table fish tank with colorful fishes, posters, photographs will always give you a reason to work in a lively manner. A brighter you on the outside will translate into a vibrant you on the inside.

Exercise: Keeping your body active not only pumps up your heart rate and boosts blood flow; it also helps release happy hormones into your body, which plays an important and effective role in controlling stressful situations and work loads.

Choose public transport or Carpool: People driving or riding in heavy rains are likely to be accident prone. Public transport may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is the best option during monsoon. Carpooling is another option, this also avoids getting stuck and feeling frustrated alone in the traffic, when you carpool  even if you are stuck you have two or three people to chat or crack a joke or two and the journey back home will be fun.

Cozy:  When it rains we would all love to snuggle and sleep. Keep a pair of warm clothes in your office drawer or locker. You can always wrap yourself and feel cozy while you work. Sometimes too much coziness will make your eye shut and tempt you to sleep. Keep your body well hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids and wipe your face with wet wipes to avoid dozing at your desk.

Monsoons are the best, if we take care of our monsoon blues we will tend to enjoy working in this moist weather.

References: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/City-faces-monsoon-blues/articleshow/3382652.cms
http://www.afternoondc.in/health-fitness/10-ways-to-beat-the-monsoon-blues/article_30854
http://www.drbatras.com/en/featured-articles/beat-monsoon-blues.aspx

The nitty- gritty of banking tech

We have stood in those queues with tokens in our hands, waited to with draw or deposit cash, transferred cash trough demand drafts and have got our passbook updated from time to time. All these banking activities still do exist but to a minimal rate. My uncle used to the work in the bank I clearly recall him tallying accounts in long ledger books. Now he uses technology to do the same, which he claim is faster and error free.

These days, with the advancement in technology, online banking has caught up really well. With our busy schedules we need to pay our bills, transfer money to our parents who are overseas. Online or Mobile banking has carved a path.

Technology has changed the business world in India and has helped to serve just what we want i.e. more flexibility in retail and banking. Banks now offer at the finger tip services. From creating a new account to taking a loan, banks give online options to their customers. Customers have to just sync their mobile numbers with the bank, download an app and viola! Your banking work is done. More over banks provide message details of all transactions.

Here are few customer specific essentials for a safe banking:

Customer Friendly: Online banking and mobile banking are indeed customer friendly as the serve the purpose of every customer. One can feed a friends’ or family members account details and easily transfer money instantly. Pay loans, bills, credit card payment in just one click, convert payments to EMI’s, schedule payments and save transaction details.

Information Security: With cyber crimes seeking around corners banks follow high security systems. Since all important details such as card numbers, security pins, passwords are at stake. Banks ensure that all customer details are secure. Time and again we are reminded by the bank that our details are meant to be secure and not to be shared with anyone. Our debit and credit cards have EVM chips to ensure complete security when swiped at POS terminals.

Payment gateways: With the bloom of e-commerce and e-retail, banks have provided secure payment gateway options to e-commerce companies. Banks offers net banking and payment through cards. Only secured and verified gateways are tied up with banks. Every bank has either OTP (one time password) or a security password verified by Visa or Master

Banking has become simple and it is at the tip of our fingers with technology. With the shift to the Internet, the traditional brick is becoming superfluous. Banking tech is here to stay.

Happy User

From mending pencils to Photoshop illusions, graphic designers try to create those essence of love for a user’s experience. We all want to fall in love with our gadgets, when our sense of sight, sound and touch meet the device’s interface.

I assume most of you are born during the 80’s or 90’s and have all used gadgets like a videotape player to watch a movie or carried a A5 sized music player, played video games on a small hand held black and white screen game boy. At that point just owning these gadgets amused us and we did not stop to perceive user experience of the device.

Technology trends are changing like a woman’s wardrobe, new trends just come and go. We have so many choices when it comes to gadgets that at several points it just leaves us baffled like a woman stating there are no clothes in her closet when she stores a truck load. The point is that every website, device, app which arrives in the market comes with the tag of feel good when you use, we sit hours to decide on the appeal and use before we actually buy a gadget.

A simple example of user experience is our smart phones, which have changed from black and white to color. My first phone was a Nokia 1100 which I owned in the year 2008. A phone barely half the size of my palm with a monochrome graphic display of one and half inches, a flashlight to guide me in the dark and two mini games which ended at level 9. In just 7 seven years I owned around 9 different phones each changing in shape and size and user experience. Just  as  children grow a few inches every year so do our smart phone screens they grow every year inches by inches. From a one and half inch type phone to a 5 inch touch phone when have all experienced the technology growth.

We belong to Gen X and we have grown with the change in technology. It is very likely that there is someone of Gen Y reading this article who  has had an interaction with a product or service that doesn’t work the way they think it should  and have felt frustrated, confused, stupid and perhaps angry or even written a review on Amazon explaining the same.

Product makers do know that the users of their products are their customers and any of these sad emoticons are the last thing they want them to experience when engaging with their business. So the put on their thinking caps, pull up their socks and come up with version point upgrades.

Another thing is that customers are like stray cats they are loyal to place and objects that give them comforts. In simple terms if your users have a bad experience with your product or website they will go to your competitors. So you not only lose a customer but your competitors score a browine point.

It is also well known that loyal customers make some of the best brand evangelists. Having this kind of customer should be your ultimate goal and great UX helps achieve this.

Don't we love selfies, selfies are the 'yo' trend. Our 2 or 5 mega pixel front cameras are not enough to give us those picture perfect photographs. What do we want a 15 mega pixel camera with flash? A Photoshop app in our  phones. We get bored easily we always want more or better, ever since primitive type has evolved to smart touch we are anticipating the ultimatum. 

Our customers are our users. Whether it is website, apps or gadgets our customers like something that is easy, pleasant and natural for users to be comfortable to use. If our customers are able to engage with us using our product consider it sold.

Make the right move

Digital marketing is like an eel, impulsive, erratic and volatile. The moment you try to catch this eel there is a new fugacious eel which requires catching.

With blue prints of future technologies it is like running a fool’s errand to keep up with this dynamic industry. There seems to be no beam balance of chasing capricious trends and an ossifying Luddite. There is an in between solution where in digital marketing  specialists identify current trends, settle on an actionable strategy, and take measurable movement forward, which help them to strike the right cord and reach the desired goal.

Ask me or any digital marketing specialist where do they put all their marketing eggs? Without much thought, our answer will be ‘Google’. It is true that this giant on a bean stalk cannot be dethroned and their golden goose cannot be stolen so easily, but customers on the other hand do like to try and look out for alternatives. Just think about this if Facebook has to introduce a search engine to their web of services, we surely know which spider will be stealing those flies away. It is the digital marketers duty to connect with these diverting customers and bring them to target point.

On my previous week’s blog about Pocket Technology we saw how in twenty years all those huge gadgets that lie around us calls in our pockets as one small device the 'smart phone'. We know that US has the largest number of mobile users, as of January 2014: 90% of American adults own a cell phone. India and China are catching the train of mobile ownership.  With internet on a smart phone users not  just download apps and search the net, they read the newspaper, send mails, track their parcels get directions, book shows some event set their diet plan on the phones. We know what we do with our smart phones. For a Digi marketing specialist this is data, figures a boom of the modern marketing era. This may be utterly cliche, overrated, but the fact is, our customers are on the mobile market.

I have been in this stream for over 3 years, so my social networking pages (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are others) have the same amount of online presence. Our pages are growing organically and we have built up a pretty decent following in each channel and our audience have begun to engage more with our content. What's the next question is answered by driving these leads into business. Social Media is Zeus lighting bolt for lead generation, if used right this powerful tool can create wonders in our business. With a lot of experimenting, testing, patience and dedication to post highly valuable content for our audience we build social conversations. We communicate to get a better response.

Currently the future of PPC's is looking grim as more search marketers are using organic strategies to do the job in addition to this the ad campaign area has now become limited and restricted due to growing competition. Pay-per-click (PPC) ads were once a hot ticket item in the world of search marketing, serving as an excellent complementary strategy for practically any type of business. Weather we like it or not sometimes we have to let money do all the talking at times to build a viable strategy.

We have have all done algorithms when we were in college, those sums were always tricky. Digital marketing also following algorithms.  It will infuriate us, delight us, confuse us, and disappoint us. But it will change. It is not just Google's  search engine results page (SERPs) which we consider we need to take a look at Bing, Facebook and Twitters algorithm as well.

According to Forbes one of the most fascinating trends in 2015 is the continued evolution of growth hacking. Growth hacking will continue to demonstrate its indomitable power in the face of unlikely odds.

Where strategy applies there is bond to be risk and failure. Despite various market treats and several intimidating change in trends we still take bold steps and move forward. Closing our eyes and jumping head first into new trends would not help a business grow via digital marketing. A cautious experiment with trends will helps us count our customers and turn them into leads.

References:

http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/

https://blog.kissmetrics.com/lead-conversion-with-social-media/

http://www.audiencebloom.com/2014/10/supply-demand-ppc-dying-future-paid-search-ads/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilpatel/2015/03/09/10-digital-marketing-trends-in-2015-that-will-boost-your-strategy/2/

Enriching lifestyles

Imagine waking up in the morning at your hotel to the sweet sound of your favourite artist, the draperies opens to reveal the glorious sunshine welcoming you to a new day. The music you left behind begins to fade and sensing its master's presence, the lights in the bathroom turns on and greets you as you walk in. The wall-flushed monitor turns on and automatically switches to your favourite news channel from CNN. All you need is a smart phone or a tablet.

Our phones these days are smart, when we get all features in form of apps on the phone then why not have hotel automation controlled by mobile apps.

With new technology trends changing the way various industries function, the hospitality domains too look at ways to improve customer experience. Hotels and property developers are now looking into automation changes for their hospitality properties. 

Innovations being  so powerful and compelling it is disrupting our lifestyles and habits. Google, Facebook, dornes, 3D printing all these technologies in some way can disrupt significant aspects of our lives. But the one area, where entrepreneurs would do well to be as little disruptive as possible is the $1.2 billion market of automation.

Our home breed a sense of familiarity, a cocoon that one goes back to at the end of a day's work. We are bid by habits which are a framework that guides our everyday living. We turn on and off lights, draw the drapes, control the room temperature. When we go on a holiday our hotel rooms are serviced to give us comfortable home like stay. 

Change is something that all entrepreneurs of the hospitality domains look forward to. Most hospitality sectors are looking at tools that play the rule of three: Sensors for detection, mobile apps that remotely control them, and a cloud that stores and analyses behavior. 

At the hardware level the automation system must be discrete and invisible since it is another presence in the hotel room the solutions or sensors should be nondescript, mundane even. It should blend into the walls, mimic a customers behavior, become an extension of existing habits, not change them. 

Home automation solutions are now being adapted by various hotels and property developers around the world in an effort to help consolidate the costs associated with rising energy prices. Within the field of green technology, smart automation solutions are making a great impact on the industry. From automated temperature control systems to smart-energy lighting solutions, programmable automated technology is changing the world around us for a brighter future. 

Control drapes, lights, temperature, with a remote. No more getting out of beds to draw them. No more going round behind sofas to reach the light switches. Just turn them off them at the touch of a remote or touchscreen. A smart device device which makes a hotel guest's stay relaxed and comfortable. 

A technology that is not disruptive, but a product which adapts to our settings.

References: http://www.aismartsystems.com/index.php/blog/134-home-automation-system-solutions-for-chandigarh-residents.html

http://www.automatedlifestyle.com

http://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/disruption-home-automation/46231408

   

Pocket Technology

What began with striking two stones together to create a fire, went on evolving to create new devices for our daily use. It is said that, "Necessity is the mother of all invention." As man began to evolve his necessity began to evolve as well. From the invention of radio, camera, telephone, television in the 20th century, we would all agree to the below image of having all those large gadgets in one place a mini device called the mobile in our pockets.

 Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first publicized handheld mobile phone call on a prototype Dyna TAC model on April 4, 1973. It has been 42 years since Motorola rolled out this model, today the mobile phone, not just does the basic job of calling and texting. It has completely changed in size and shape and has the functions of all major devices in one gadget.

Since the phone is so smart, light to carry and can do multiple tasks for us, it is changing our life style by the day.

All phones have the same hardware component with just a few changes. The major changes of a mobile device is the software versions. The user experience of the phone defines the look and feel to the device.Most companies target on the look and feel of the application a user uses.

2014 saw mobile apps overtake PC websites in terms of Internet usage. As this trend is bound to continue in 2015, marketing strategies should evolve to keep up. On a average approximation 63% of the world population are mobile users with the total number of mobile subscriptions globally topping seven billion. The mobile market is big business, and it’s showing no signs of letting up.

Recent studies show that users spend more time on their phones than at their desktop. As new apps continue to flood the market there is a significant change in the way users download and engage with them.

The creation of applications intended to execute on newer mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets involves unique requirements and challenges. Thanks to a robust app developer community and a growing number of cross-platform developer tools, there is clearly wisdom in developing and delivering content on more than one platform.
As enterprises strive to make their business more approachable, while allowing their customers to manage work seamlessly – business apps in a way is helping them work smarter and emphasize on what actually matters.
Apps are gaining momentum and are becoming  an important aspect of our daily lives. Take an example Indian Television Channel Star Plus, they have an app called Hot star app which allows one to watch TV serials, news, sports, reality shows and submit comments. Its is a mini package of the whole channel for all those working women and men who do not like to miss their serials or matches can now catch their latest updates on this app.
Banks have their mobile banking system, restaurants have mobile ordering systems, E-commerce have their mobile shopping apps. In simple sense all industries are looking at a seismic shift to mobile platforms because you and I own the latest smart phone. It all lies in the demand and supply curve of the economy, where the demand for more and advanced technology lies there the competition for supply also lies.
So if you already have an idea of an app for a particular stream or industry why wait for someone else to come up with the idea which you already have in the pipeline, but never created. Why not go ahead and create an app of your own.
If you have a web based product think of an app for the same as customers get attracted to the app rather than the web product. Websites have already changed style and design to suit and integrate on a mobile platform.
With IoT and BYOD sneaking into work places and changing work trends the demand for mobile apps will increase by yet another 30% in the coming years.

Mobile app development is experiencing a tremendous growth in the industry, with the growth of E-commerce the scope for app development will always be on the rise. Mobile application development is the present and future of the IT industry.

Reference: http://www.infinitemonkeys.mobi/blog/category/app-of-the-week/

Party on our Minds

We enjoy nothing more than spending time with our friends and colleagues, at least once a year we get together for a formal family event.

Family event? Yes, family event, researchers have proved that when a working individual spends nearly 60 percent of their time at their work place, ideally a workplace becomes your second home, colleagues and teammates become your family members. A get together event becomes a workplace family event.

The Arowana family has had several get togethers, just as wine gets better with time so does fun. This year Arowana organized a gala Annual meet. We used technology to its best, connected two oversea cities and hosted one event.

Arowana Bangalore and Dubai organized Confluence along with Arowana Reward and Commendation ceremony on 23^rd May 2015.

An event is like a building yet to be built, just before the foundation for construction is layed, a blue print is required. The HR teams of both the locations sketched out the event blue print in the month of March. After several discussions, hotels and resorts were scouted for the hosting. The design team was the architect of the event as they began to execute designs which included fun mailers, videos, banners, standees, and trophy and certificate designs.  The admin and volunteering committee were construction members of the event; they organized the stage decoration, the video conference, photo booth, games and activities. The hosts and performers were the final touches of the gala event.

Arowana was established in the year 2006 and it has walked 9 years of milestones. This company has grown from 2 to 200 and grows every year because of a shoal of talent. Every resource has contributed their percent to build a skyscraper of the company. As the going gets tough the tough gets going and some members have worked hard and carved a way for better growth. It is said that, “A little bit of desire in life is necessary to keep life in motion. “ The desire to do better can be created only through appreciations. The highlight of this year’s get together was the reward and commendation ceremony that took place at Bangalore and Dubai.

Confluence was held at Ramee guest line in Bangalore and at The Address in Dubai. A day before the Admin team and a few performers set out to the location to ensure the stage was set for the event. The performers had a dress rehearsal on the stage as we rolled the banner and set it in place.

On the day of the event the HR team and volunteers ran through the schedule and set finishing touches of the arrangements along with the resort members. 

We left Arowana office at 3PM to the venue. Hooting, shouting and singing added spice along the journey to the resort. All Arowana registered members were welcomed along with their family members and friends. We walked the red carpet and posed for photographs. At 4 Pm fun activities began at Ramee guest line. We played musical chairs and had friendly tug-o-war matches. The tugs of friendships were stronger than the ropes leading to draw matches. A warm cup of tea and sizzling starters energized us as we began to explore other activities at the resort. Children enjoyed jumping on the trampolines, swinging thru and fro, playing games of tag and sliding down slides. As the adolescences and adults of Arowana played indoor games and took a dip in the pool.

At 6PM all Arowanites had gathered in the Conference hall dressed smart and crisp in formals. Once indoors, we began playing tambola a fun game of numbers and luck. 5 people who wore their lucky socks that day won exciting prizes. The hosts and dosts Kavya and Deepak greeted the gathering in a fun and frivolous manner. Rhythm and beats ended with a bang of karaoke singing and twist and turns of fusion dances.

At 7.30 PM IST Dubai office joined us on video conference. We began our Award ceremony with Unni Vijayan’s words of wisdom and welcoming of important dignitaries of the company. Mr Chandrappa, Verabadrappa, Murthy, Padmanaba, Murli and Sameer were awarded for their 5 year long service toward the company.

Prateek was the host of the Dubai event. He honored and welcomed the dignitaries. He finally broke the ice of anticipation and excitement we had all been holding from the past one month; the excitement of the Award winners. Mr. Ainan won The Golden Beacon (Best employee) award, Mr. Sameer Patil won the Silver Beacon (Best TNM) award, Mr. Kishen Gajanan won the Chrysalis award (Best freshman), Mr. Rashid and Mr. Zain won Nebula award (An experienced new member) the last but not the least award Orion Dream team award (Best team) won by Mr Sadiq Sikandar and team.

 The ceremony was closed by Kavya and Deepak in Bangalore. While Prateek continued hosting a series of fun games and activities.

An event is incomplete without the rock and roll. Lights out… Disco music on mere ganna baja de DJ DJ mere ganna baja de. We soon picked our bodies up and dropped it on the floor, let the rhythm change our world on the floor. The event closed with a bang as we dragged out worn out dancing shoes and hungry bellies to feast on sumptuous dinner.

All good things must come to an end, but memories keep all things lasted. We headed puffing tired yet happily chattering about the success of the big event. Adults become children when it comes to fun. We all require appreciation, fun and enjoyment once in a while.

Get togethers get each one of us closer. Our hidden talents are brought out naturally and recognized at such gathering. Above all letting our hair down and dancing like no one is watching is the best stress buster for all of us.

The Arowana Family day out was indeed memorable for all of us. The fruit of hard work is gratitude. We give Arowana our work and Arowana pays us with a platform to have fun.

Welcome to the next best thing

“The only way to do great work is love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

-Steve Jobs   

A few days ago our company had to let go of two of their best resources. Vidya was Senior Oracle HRMS specialist, she with us for five years now she is relocating to San Francisco to begin a new journey of her life- A married life. Jagadeesh worked with us for 3 years as a Dot Net engineer. He joined as a fresher, just out of college He wanted to do his Masters in UK and left us to complete his career.

Their places are currently empty and are waiting for someone to fill their shoes. The world is not a large place with networking on social media platforms we are sure that there is another Vidya and Jagadeesh out there who are determined and passionate to work with us for a long term.

Arowana is headquartered in Bangalore with offices off shore in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Jeddah and the US. We are family to close to 250 plus members working together. Arowana provides a canopy of resources to all its employees to succeed personally and professionally. The work we do here as an impact on the world and you can be a part of it.

The world of software and technology is so dynamic that it is rapidly changing even as you sit and read this, so we are changing too. Our Vision is simple to be the icon company of the 21^st century, but we need you to achieve this.

Most of our work is grounded on the platforms of Oracle, Dot Net, Java and Mobile application development and heart of everything we do is incite: helping to create work force for our clients that brings people together, tell stories, provoke and generate conversations.

We strive to give our clients products and solutions which tune all the five senses.  To do this we are constantly looking for a diamond in the ruff. We want more people who are unique and filled with special talents, who can pull a rabbit out of a hat with their work.

When we recruit we ensure that all our staff stay and grow with us. We ensure that no applicant or staff member receives less favorable treatment on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, marital status, social status, caste, race, ethnic origin, religious belief, age, HIV status, disability, or any other factor that cannot be shown to be relevant to performance.

We are as open and broadminded as our doors, our success rates are as high as our buildings, and our hearts are as large as an ocean. Our environment is free, crazy, fun, jovial, challenging. We do not compete against each other, but we complete tasks with each other.

Our work culture is colorful and warm. You are welcomed with warmth and assurance, you are given a tour of all the benefits you avail while you work with us, explore as much as you like the limit to expose to talent before us, share any of your grievances our ears are always open to your problem and enjoy all you can while you produce the best.

We are waiting for you to fill those empty seats of Vidya and Jagadeesh. What are you waiting for? If you are a dynamic, hardworking, innovative and creative, talented, determined, focused and a fun loving person then drop in your resumes before the door of opportunity closes.

In words of Steve Jobs “I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.”

Now stop search for your dream job and start applying. We want you onboard soon.

Techno vacation experience

Why do people go on a vacation? To relax, get away from daily mundane lifestyle, keep the mind away from coding and many such reasons.

When people go on a vacation they are not just looking for a good holiday spot, but a good hotel which makes their stay a memorable one.

Several hotels in the hospitality industry are striving to provide their customer with not just a room with basic amenities but a room which is technologically censored to provide comfort and relaxation.

When I state technologically censored in simple terms I mean room automation. Room automation is a remote controlled mechanism which helps guests to a hotel to operate several hardware devices with a remote controlled system.

The Idea is simple. All appliances in a room such as lights, room security cameras, locks, curtains, television, music systems are all connected with a hardware chip which in turn is coded with software on a remote or mobile platform to synchronize and work on one touch mechanism.

Hotels upgrade to automated rooms to provide that extra luxury and comfort to clients. When one device can control the entire appliance in a room, a traveler has to just sit back and enjoy the luxury technology has to offer.

Hotels have a Building Management System or a Property Management system. These systems control data of property, staff, bookings, reservations, cancellations, security. The data is vast and can be connected with an automation device.

So as a guest utilizes certain amenities such as reserving a conference room, or booking a dinner table, this data is routed to the PMS which in turn helps hotel staff to keep a check on the activities of the guest.

A guest does look out for a relaxing holiday; a luxurious hotel makes the guest feel heavenly. The idea of Automation is to provide luxury and comfort. If a person has taken a holiday to feel lazy, hotels are striving to give their guest the same. A lazy holiday with a technology smart tool.

Hit and Run

Smashing Mavericks after their win.

Played in almost 130 countries, cricket is one popular sports played across the globe.  Just as the English colonized and left their language to grow in several places, in the same way they left cricket around to grow as a game of passion in various countries across the globe.

GB once quoted -This bat and ball game played by 22 flannelled fools being watched by 22,000 flannelled fools “. Although this quote has a negative connotation yet it has a hidden parody in it.

 A lot of people would not be interested in playing this game but would definitely enjoy watching it just for the amount of thrill, spectacle it provides. It’s is a game of uncertainties and swinging fortunes and that’s what makes it more watchable and enticing   . During a game a brilliant player may get out in the first over, another player may hit an unexpected boundary while on the other hand a whole team may get bundled out within a paltry score. All these only make the spectators wanting for more and biting their nails in anticipation to watch their favorite team win.

The cricket fever is felt throughout the year in the form of Premier Leagues, One day matches, Bi-lateral test series or just a magnanimous Tendulkar in flamboyant form scoring double centuries and creating records of mammoth statistics.

The most awaited season for the cricketing fraternity is the World cup carnival. It’s a quadrennial event that gives a platform for cricket playing nations all over the world to showcase their mastery over the game.   The last edition of world cup held in 2011 was won by India. It was a record of sorts as India was the first and only country to win a world cup in their home soil.  Never has any country done that before and it was a reason to be cheered by millions. The 2015 edition of world cup is on-going and the results are awaited.

As the fever has spread across the globe and there is talk of cricket in every nook and corner of the town, why not hold a mini tournament to boost the cricketing fan’s spirits.

With that thought in mind the fraternity of Arowana family enjoy beautiful game as well. Every Friday afternoon is spent by playing friendly cricket matches. This cricket tournament season Arowana organized a mini three day tournament, intra- company.

All interested members were divided into teams of four each with 11 players and an 8 over match. The Pool A teams were Smashing Mavericks and Challengers. Pool B teams were Rockstars and Himse. The qualifying teams from each Pools were Smashing Mavericks and Rockstars.

Playing among your colleagues has a different level of fun and enjoyment. There are no professional sports men here every team had their strengths and weakness and every team put up a fair fight.

There were fun moments, there were sorrowful moments, there were hilarious and painful ones too in the end only the joyful win remains as a lasting memory.

The final match was played between Team Smashing Mavericks and Rockstars an intense match with Smashing Mavericks smashing their win by 69 runs. Jithin Vatakara from design team was the Man of the Final Match and the man of Series with (108 runs through series)

Pool A man of the match was Sheikh Zakirulla and Pool B man of the match was Lokesh from Dot net team.

All said and done, but there is one detail which I would not like to miss... The women of the match. Each team had two ladies who played the match. The ladies were given one over to bat and one to bowl. If you wondered what a lady can do in a cricket match? our dear ones would have stunned you with their hit and run. One had a good partnership, one hit a four, one took a wicket but let me not forget to mention they were good fielders at the boundary of the ground.

The captains of every team were encouraging, hooting, shouting and screaming. Every player was hooted for, every four and six was cheered with tremendous enthusiasm, every wicket that fell had an oh no! and face palm. Every game won had somersaults, hi-fives, hugs and selfies.

All in all the umpires had a hard decision to take when a how is that ? was screamed. When a team argued against a run taken for a no ball most of all when a bowler could not help bowling just wide balls.

Three cheers! was a slogan that was shouted after Smashing Mavericks won the match. When the players were told that the trophy was a rolling one and must be returned to the administration to be show cased for the year. Every player took turns to take a Facebook profile picture of themselves holding the winning trophy.

A grand after party ended the three day tournament. Teams continue to practice to try their luck for the next year win. Our Arowana Dubai office colleagues are practicing hard for their upcoming cricket tournament. We are eagerly waiting to see which team wins the Dubai tournament.

As the cricket fever continues world wide and we are eagerly waiting to see if India wins today's match against West Indies. All of us are glued to our phones for a timely updates on the score. Cricket is a game played by 11 spirited sportsmen and watched by 11,000 thrilled supporting fans who love this game and find it contagious.

The best team won our tournament... may the best team win this year's World Cup.

Go Green with Green Cloud Computing

We are aware of this metaphorical based technology called ‘cloud’ which helps companies to host their services over the internet. Cloud allows companies to consume compute as a utility. It is similar to how a telephone or water department works; you consume all power from this single utility at a flexible price and not invest in your own power supply department.

Cloud Computing Data application centers consume voluptuous amounts of energy, this in turn contributes to increased operational costs. A less know fact data centers increase carbon emissions. Recent research shows that excluding the energy consumed by the cooling equipment for the server, a single 300-watt server running throughout a year can cost about $338, and can emit around 1,300 Kilos CO2. According to a McKinsey report, $11.5 billion was the total estimated energy bill for data centers in 2010.

If in the year 2010 1300 kilos of CO2 was produced then with increase use and expansion of cloud computing data usage the production of CO2 will increase by 3 fold. Network based cloud computing is rapidly expanding as an alternative to conventional office based computing. As cloud computing becomes more widespread, the energy consumption of the network and computing resources that underpin the cloud will grow. This is happening at a time when there is increasing attention being paid to the need to manage energy consumption across the entire information and communications technology (ICT) sector. While data center energy use has received much attention recently, there has been less attention paid to the energy consumption of the transmission and switching networks that are key to connecting users to the cloud.

With the increase in energy there is a rise in energy cost. The data centers need a more efficient energy that reduces the production of increased Carbon. Green cloud is a buzzword that refers to the potential environmental benefits that information technology (IT) services delivered over the Internet can offer society. The term combines the words green -- meaning environmentally friendly -- and cloud, the traditional symbol for the Internet and the shortened name for a type of service delivery model known as cloud computing.

Green cloud which reduces the operational cost and carbon footprints. Achieving green cloud computing is a complex and challenging task as the applications and data requirements are growing. This means that more servers and disks are required to carry out requests with given QoS (Quality of service) within the defined SLA (Service Level Agreement). Hence green cloud computing which not only saves energy but which also reduces operational cost is the need of the hour.

According to market research conducted by Pike Research, the wide-spread adoption of cloud computing could lead to a potential 38% reduction in worldwide data center energy expenditures by 2020. The savings would be primarily achieved by consolidating data centers and maximizing power usage efficiency (PUE), improving recycling efforts, lowering carbon and gas emissions and minimizing water usage in cooling the remaining centers.

Because so much of a data center’s energy expenditures support data storage, the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) has promoted new technologies and architectures to help save energy. Advances in SAS drive technologies, automated data duplication, storage virtualization and storage convergence reduce the amount of physical storage a data center requires, which helps decrease its carbon footprint and lower operating expenditures (OPEX) and capital expenditures (CAPEX).

Information and communication technology (ICT) profoundly impacts on environment because of its large amount of CO2 emissions. In the past years, the research field of “green” and low power consumption networking infrastructures is of great importance for both service/network providers and equipment manufacturers. An emerging technology called cloud computing can increase the utilization and efficiency of hardware equipments. It can potentially reduce the global CO2 emission.

Because the color green is also associated with paper money, the label green cloud is sometimes used to describe the cost-efficiency of a cloud computing initiative.

References: http://searchcloudstorage.techtarget.com/definition/green-cloud

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5684759&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D5684759

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5559320&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D5559320

http://www.compassitesinc.com/blogs/green-cloud-computing