Welcome 2013, happy new year!

As the clocks tick on, another year is about to pass over and we entering not only a new year. Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous new year.

A brief looks Nature, Economic, Political and Technology happening over 2012

Nature: The hype created around Dooms day - 21st Dec 2012 was quite interesting and funny. This can be made into movie, in line with movie '2012' and sure would be a block buster.

Some of the stories which went around .... Earth would stop its rotation due to magnetic pole swift, Yellow stone volcanic eruption and its impact, huge sized Asteroid hitting the earth similar to one happened during time of Dinosaur.

All of which were scary only to remind us how blessed are we, to just to carry on by taking all nature's action for granted. Apart from above hoax, 2012 had been relatively peaceful year.

Economy: Another year passed by with currency wars happening as usual. Paper currency continued to loose stream as investment focus was on more trusted 'yellow' metal - Gold. On year on year basis, as of Dec 2012, there is around 20% hike.

From my view point, it looks like gold has reached it saturation point for the given economic condition of the world. From now on any hike may be slower one, unless there is further turmoil in Economy.

From economy growth perspective, the response was mixed and one can say it was sluggish all across the globe. After few years of growth, there had been a fall in India GDP this year.

The economic outlook for India does not seem to look promising particularly with higher NPA (Non performing assets - Recent RBI report) in banking sector with inflation refusing to come down.

Political: Political climate across there globe was much quiet. 2011 saw political changes in middle east, but 2012 was quite. 2013 could be a crucial year for India, before the general election before proposed election in 2014.

Technology: Virtualization and mobile communication continued to grow. Virtualization in form of cloud computing and mobile communication packed with feature are being widely marketed. In future mobile phones might become once valet and even used towards identity of a person apart from his signature or picture.

With every passing year, not only do we become old, but also become more mature and with keener understanding of life. Lets learn to live without regrets and focus our energy towards our goals.

GOOD LUCK AND BEST WISHES FOR THE YEAR AHEAD!!!

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Where is my India?

Where is my India? - This is statement put up by one of the leading news TV channels in the last few days, after the brutal crime happened at the capital in mid December 2012. Without losing time, the guilty need to be punished at the earliest.

The matter should not end with this, the question "Where is my India?" should act as a trigger at this point of time to bring in necessary reforms. About couple of decade back, Doordarshan and news papers where the only source of ‘news’ for public. Everyone is aware of quality of news produced by Doordarshan and even though news paper were privately run provided better coverage of news, unfortunately, one was not getting a complete 360 degree view point about the happenings and communication was one way.

Opening up of economy, evolved the media sector. 90’s saw growth of private TV channel, but the focus of these private channel was on entertainment , as the thought would have been only entertainment would provide sustainable business model for these media channel. Hence, the focus was not on quality of news provided OR analysis of news.

Come 2005, exclusive news channels were born. These news channels started providing a 360 degree view point of news and there has been no hiding of information. For any kind of major incidence happening in India, the media channel is there to provide the necessary information across India. In addition to news channels, the communication facilities and options like mobile, facebook and twitter has provided faster dissemination of information with support evidences.

Reforms in economy alone would not benefit the country, there needs to reforms all around, keeping in mind many factors and has to happen quickly. As this did not happen, some of the sectors have changed drastically due to technology, opening up of economy and professionalism while many sectors are resisting changes to happen. Some sectors in India have moved forward, while some others lag way behind. Anyways its matter of time, changes happen for good. After all, change is the only permanent thing, none can prevent it.

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'End of the world', Phobia....

Mayan's calendar ends on 21st December 2012, which is today and so?.....
I would like to link this up with history and also Hinduism. Mayan's calender started around 3000 BC, around same time as Kali yuga had started after the end of Dwapura Yuga around 3000 BC.

As per Hindu mythology, Kali yuga is set to last for 4,32,000 years and we have hardly reached about 5000 years. Kali yuga is suppose to be the last phase of earth after Sathya, Treta and Dwapara yuga and each of these yuga's had lasted for close to million years.

Mayan calendar could end today and start again tomorrow.

Also wish to point out the famous Bhagavat Gita Quote, 

Hence, tomorrow would be another day.

None, can predict whats is store for each one of us tomorrow.

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FDI in retail, back again..

FDI in retail industry refuses to die down, its back again in the parliament.
One could see mixed responses from about FDI in retail, I had read an article in The Hindu and read another article in Economic times few days back, with both providing a contradictory view point about FDI. Off course, I have written in my own blog about FDI in retail about a year back.

Having opened up almost all sectors including manufacturing, it really does not matter just to protect retail sector alone.

Going through the article in The Hindu, the following question came to my mind on which I do not have answers.

True, FDI should have been ideally allowed only for import substitute, promote export's. This has not been the case, FDI or imports were allowed in most of the sectors on which India could have managed by itself very well. For example FDI or imports were allowed in soft drinks, potato chips, real estate, fast food chain franchisees and many more consumer goods. Is repatriation of profit in form of foreign exchange not happening on these or have the economy not impacted?.

Let’s assume for argument sake, that export obligation is linked with FDI investment. A company setting up Indian arm and after couple of years of export , what if it set up an a subsidiary company in foreign soil, will not the foreign exchange flow as investment into the subsidiary company in foreign country from India?. If such interlinked subsidiary companies are set up in different country, how easy would it be track money flows into and out of India?.

As pointed out in the article in economic times the GDP growth was around 3.5% till about 1991, when the Indian economy was protected, however has GDP not grown much more after liberalization?. But then, Indian currency has also become weak since 1991 against most of the international currencies.

India has come a long way, after opening Indian door for investment in many sectors including manufacturing, in spite of many challenges faced and accepted the changes. There is no other option, but to accept change, take up competition and challenges where ever possible. End of the day, Darwin theory hold good in this global economy, which is ‘Survival of fittest’. A consumer, would feel OK to buy ‘Washington apple’ or ‘Nagpur Orange’ either in FDI hypermarket or mamji shop as long as they get quality product for the price one pay. Except for some changes and adjustment, both the retail shop is bound to survive in its segment.

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Hinduism

***** Happy Deepavali to All !!! ****.
On this happy day, thought of writing about Hinduism. It is one of the very few religions where prayers are offered to god directly.
Religion and Spirituality can be interesting and would provide solace to many points of time, if one start understanding it better and believe the same.

At times, questions are raised about trueness of a religion. Every happening in life may not have answer and but religion can provide support to overcome difficulty and challenges.


Hinduism is often called the "one of the oldest living religion'. No one knows, when, how it was started. The starting place was Asian subcontinent and more particularly India

According to Hindu Philosophy, there are four ages. These are Satya Yuga, Thretha Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga.

Each of the yuga is said to close to million years.

Satya Yuga : Virtue was supreme, human life span 10s of 1000 years. Truth, Dharma and spirituality of human being close to 70% (near to saint).
Thretha Yuga: Reduced virtue. Truth, Dharma and spirituality of human being close to 50 to 60%. Human being size for much bigger than current size of Human being, at least by 3 or 4 times.
Dwapara Yuga: Truth, Dharma and spirituality of human being closed to 30 to 50 %. Life span was 1000 years.
Kali Yuga: Truth, Dharma and spirituality in range of 10 to 30%. Life span max of 100 years.

The ten famous incarnation of Vishnu is said to happen over all four yugas. Lord Rama said to belong to Threta Yuga and Krishna is said to be in Dwapara yuga. Once Krishna Era was over Kali Yuga is said to be born. With Kali yuga the distance between human being and god said have increased.

Some times there are questions are raised. In the last few years, some of the finding proves the above to be true.

There are evidence of about Ramar Bridge (which belonged to Thretha Yuga).

There are evidence about, humongous sized Human being of previous Yuga.

Also, there is evidence about Dwaraka city ruins where Krishna ruled (which belonged to Dwapara Yuga).

Human being life is so very short. Every religion preaches peace for self and towards others. It is said currently, we are living in "Kaliyuga" (reduced dharma and spirituality) , where prominence is given to self and selfish motive. However, one needs to keep in mind "What we sow in mind is what we get".

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Cyclone - Neelam

After Sandy the 'big brother' cyclone lashed NY, Chennai and surrounding area is ready to face the little sister cyclone 'Nilam'.

As per report, Nilam is currently crossing Mahabalipuram from 5.00 PM onwards with gusty wind, the rainfall is less and expected to cross in about 2 hours time.

It has been intermittently raining since yesterday morning at Chennai.

Today, morning we had a bit of sun coming out in morning, however since 2:00 wind speed has increased though its just drizzling.

Had been to terrace of our building at about 6:00 PM and could feel the pressure of the wind, should be in range of 50~70 Kmph. Interesting, to see clouds just moving across in great speed.

Power has been shot down most part of city.

Chennai had received 50% excess rainfall since start of North east monsoon around Oct 20th and as usual the Chennai's infrastructure woes continues due to rains. Further, fortunately rainfall is pretty less while Nilam is crossing.

Lets hope we receive lesser rainfall in the next few days, as we are approaching 'Deepavali', otherwise Chennai would just float.

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Kerala Trip - A travelogue - Part 2

We finalized our journey plan a day ( Part 1 of Travelogue ) before our actual travel. On the day of travel we started around 7:30 AM from Chennai, for travelling about 80 kms to reach Kanchipuram took close to 2 hours due to traffic, once we crossed Kanchipuram the drive was much easy on the toll road. 

Reached Coimbatore around 3:30 PM, a distance of about 530 kms. Took a bye pass at Coimbatore and traveled towards Palghat. The road from about 30 kms to Coimbatore and another 50 kms towards Palghat was not good and there was heavy truck traffic as well. Just about 8 kms before Palghat there is a diversion to Mallapuzha, once we got into that road and after a km drive, the road was good and we could see lush green sense the fresh air around, reached Mallapuzha around 5:30 PM. 

Evening time view from top of the dam was nice. 

As it was getting dark called out to Tripenta and checked availability. This is one of two possible accommodations at Mallapuzha, checked in the hotel around 7.00 PM. I must say, the hotel was in middle of lush green with mountain around.

Next day morning, we started our drive from Malapuzha around 8:30 AM, the plan was to reach Athirappilly Water Falls (127 Kms from Malapuzha). I was aware till Thirusur, it would be normal road (though called as National highway), however to our surprise the roads were really bad with poth holes, hence 70 Kms journey took more than 2 hours. However the road from Thrissur to Athirappilli falls of about 70 Kms was good, and reached Athirapalli falls around 1.00 PM. 

 More than words, photos could speak much better about Athirampalli and Vachhal falls. After spending few hours started our drive towards Ernakulam and reached pjprincess a resort, which was quite away from busy city centre. Had a pleasant overnight stay at this resort. 

The following morning picked up my daughter from their school vacation tour ( which was their last day, before their return to Chennai) and drove towards, Munnar. The road and drive towards Munnar was much better, in fact the Ghat road was pretty less in Cochin - Munnar direction. Reached Munnar in the afternoon, checked out few resorts, based on my already shortlisted research on tripadvisor and finally chose Elysium resort Elysium resort is not far away from Munnar town, yet you would not miss the view of greenery and the mountains.

Following day went around Munnar and witnessed some of the mesmerizing beauty of nature, the next day left Munnar and drove towards Madurai. This was a ghat road and even captured some picture while driving on the ghat road. Reached Madurai in noon and spent about a day there and proceeded to Chennai the following day.  

In all, would have driven around 1700 KM in about 5 days. 

Finally ending with my own quote

    " It was a treat to watch the vastness and bounty of nature which was so soothing to mind, for one who is, confined to city life most part of the year, where almost every inch is man-made and short lived with arrogance of 'me' associated with it."
 

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Kerala Trip - A travelogue - Part 1

For a week vacation in September this year, had initially planned to visit Munnar, Kerala.

 In fact, decided to drive to Munnar from Chennai, the initial plan was to pick up my daughter from Munnar as they had planned a school trip to Ernakulam and Munnar at same time. However, just before two days of planned trip, got information from School that they would be skipping Munnar and return to Chennai directly from Ernakulam. This created dilemma in our mind, whether to skip my vacation plan, the other option was to drive down to Ernakulam and pick my daughter for the planned trip to Munnar.

Drive to Ernakulam?... its around 700 KM from Chennai, how are the roads?. How long it take to drive?, do we need to take a break, these were the question in my mind and had just 2 days to plan, if opting to drive to Ernakulam. Not much information, I could get from friends and hence turned to Internet. At first I wanted to check the NHAI roads as these are toll express ways and driving on them is much easier. I hit upon the map on NHAI web site. Chennai to Ernakulam did not have complete cover through expressway (NHAI), if its not NHAI road, it could be taxing and hence planned to take a break.

The interesting point is NHAI map provides details about Expressways (toll roads) across India.

Had two options,

Option 1: Drive to Madurai (Express way - NHAI) and then to Ernakulam. Driving from Madurai to Cochin, one has to use the Ghat road to reach Munnar and then drive down to Ernakulam and back Munnar. Driving 4 times on Ghat road could be quite taxing for an amateur driver like me.  

Option 2: Drive to Coimbatore, Palghat, Trishur, Ernakulam all through plain and then up the mountains to Munnar, then Madurai and back to Chennai. Slightly longish route. Most of the roads are express ways when compared to option 1. Hence choose this option.

With a day to go, the next one was to check for places where we could take a break along with accommodation. Based on the NHAI maps, understood that express ways (toll road) ends few kilometers from Coimbatore and further Coimbatore is about 500Kms from Chennai. Hence decided to stay overnight at place near Coimbatore. However, preferred a place away from city and hence the option was Palghat. Further narrowed down to Mallapuzha (Palghat). The other location for our accommodation just fell in place, which were Cochin, Munnar and Madurai.

Will continue soon on this travelogue....particularly with pictures on mesmerizing beauty of nature and the drive through Mulapuzha (Palghat), Athirapalli & Vazhachal falls(cochin) and Munnar.

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Stagflation

Had seen news papers reporting stagflation of Indian economy by Moody's Analytics. First time, I was hearing the word Stagflation (off course, I am not a economist!!?!). The means, the economic growth or GDP is less or getting down, while inflation is still going strong.

 Hmm..., though not surprised, more than an year back had written a post about Indian economy 's GDP Vs Inflation compared to US and Chinese economy. In that post had mentioned that all may not be well even with higher GDP. 

 With GDP also decreasing now, reduction of interest rate could fuel inflation further. It could well be a double whammy for Indian economy.

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The Mind Game

One needs to have positive frame of mind and feel good factor to work towards achieving one's goal in life. Unfortunately it is not always easy to stay positive, its just not the mind by the environment particularly the people around you and even the place matter in achieving the desired state of mind.

 Most of the times the environment can be static and monotonous. Your office, home with most of the time you interact with same set of people at least 60 to 80% of the time. Definitely the people around you influence your state of mind.

 Though, it may be difficult, to change people around you but you can always make an attempts to influence them.

 There is a famous saying in Tamil. "Ul Ondru vaithu puram ondru pesuvar uravu kalavaami Vendum"

  Meaning of it - Help me to get rid of any association with those whose speeches are contradictory to their thoughts. This is very opt in today's environment. Positive talk or inspirational talks might not help you, if the people around you have different opinion in back of the mind and hence association with right people make the difference.

 Apart from people around you, the materialistic world also take their toll in bringing the negative thoughts. Think of a day when the gadget supports refuses to work for a you, be in it mobile phone, computer, microoven, Vehicle, Washing machine, TV there is a frustration and your mind is more occupied with the thought of bring it back to work.

 Our body need to intake food, absorbs vital vitamins & nutrient and excrete unwanted waste as far as possible. However, we cannot say the same with our mind. Our mind get all inputs both positive and  negative thoughts at all times. A persons outlook depends on what his mind is occupied at most point of time.

 At times places you visit bring you feel good factor and positive frame of mind. This could last till the time you are at the place, however it can bring you a positive feel whenever your recollect or think back about the place. Such positive energy generating place could vary from person to person and depends on a person passion as well.

  Some of the nature's positive vibe pictures to me from my own collection. 

               
 Disappointment or failures can be common in life. When one faces disappointment, take a step back from the original issue and ask yourself. 

  "Is there a alternative approach to solution ?" and "What is that I need?" 

 Disappointments aren't meant to hurt you or keep you down. They're meant to help you to realize you more and grow you more as time progresses.

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Sedan Cars – Indian Market

About six month back, we decided to change Hyundai Santro. More than me the demand to change the car was from my wife and daughter. The six plus years old Santro was absolutely fantastic, the mileage I had done pretty less and I did not face much problem with it.

 In the last few years, there are many more choices for consumer for any segment, be it hatch back or sedan or SUV. As a matter of fact, we kept changing our choices, before we finally decided on one.
 When looking at sedan car, we had decided on certain points to look for, 


• Budget – restricted to range of INR 8 Lacs. 
• Elegance and looks.
• Performance in Indian market in last few years and service points post sales. 
• Driving condition and features.
• Mileage. 
• Petrol - I like petrol car pick up, my car usage is pretty less and hence, did not call for diesel car due to higher upfront investment.

 Based on these points had restricted my search to Hyundai Verna, Suzuki SX4, Ford Fiesta and Toyota Etios. There might have been few other Sedan, which could satisfy or even better the above criteria, however due to paucity of time, I did not opt for them.:


Hyundai Verna:
Stunning look and new age design simply ‘sport ......ish’. Nice interiors and many added features, particularly on high end variant. Having used Santro, I was almost hooked to Verna from the time it was released last year.


My budget had to be stretched, as even base model of 1.4 variant was in range of INR 8+ Lacs. Further, to my surprise I did not find many Verna in 1.4 variant on road, it had always being 1.6 variant. The 1.6 variant was costing INR 9 + lacs and definitely not in my expected range. 


The other one, I felt while test driving is that, Verna does not seem to have good ground clearance. The front hood (bonnet) looks longer. With bumper to bumper driving condition in India, I felt there may be issue with ground clearance, particularly the front hood (bonnet) not visible from driver seat.


Suzuki SX4: 
Looks sturdy, can be named .....’man...ish’ or ‘muscle...ish’. Nice interior, seat adjustment horizontal and vertical. Base version, was only in my expected range.


Further, since SX4 is around or more than 6 years, the model change was also in back of my mind. 


Ford Fiesta: 
There are two variant, ford fiesta ‘classic’ and all new ford fiesta introduced last year. The new Ford fiesta have a ‘sport...ish’ design like Verna Fluidic. Like Verna, might have a ground clearance issue, though have not test driven this car. I did not opt for this car on road price was in range of INR 9 lacs.


 The ford fiesta ‘classic’ was in the range of INR 8 Lacs and pretty neat car. Like SX4, Ford Fiesta ‘classic’ model is in market for 5 to 6 years now, hence the model change was in back of my mind. 


Toyota Etios: 
I would say this car was introduced with Indian road condition in mind. The exterior looks good though the same cannot be said about the interior.  However dual colour seat are available from ‘V’ variant, this makes the interior presentable.

 Found this car built with all safety features for the price in range of INR 8 lacs. The 'V' variant is available with alloys wheals, air bags, ABS, which I don’t think any other sedan car manufacturers offers considering the basic points and price, which I had mentioned at the start of the article.

 Importantly, felt it had good ground clearance comparable to SX4 and Ford fiesta ‘classic’. Further, Etios is expected to provide better mileage in Sedan category. Its total weight is comparatively less than most of the sedan, hence naturally one can expect better mileage .

 Finally, decided and purchased Toyota Etios ‘V’ variant and now need to see how it’s going to perform.

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Oh!..Not again... Petrol price increase May 2012.

My previous post was about depreciation of INR against USD and pointed out that petroleum product prices are bound to increase if depreciation continues,
While posting, my previous post, one of the factor, which I thought would be in our favour was that, crude oil price per barrel was still hovering around 100 USD and not at its worst. At one point of time in 2008, the crude oil per barrel was around 147 USD. Hence, I thought it may take some more time before any kind of increase.

  Hmm… however was shocked and surprised that only petrol price was increased by 7.50 INR per litre. Interestingly, petrol is environmental friendly when compared to diesel.

Made an attempt to compare & compute estimated prices, by considering the international prices of barrel of crude oil in year 2008 and 2012, the actual exchange rate and inflation.

Going by my calculation, it seems like we are being over charged by about 14 Rs.

It was said the government has decentralized and do not control oil company and its prices. Hence, are we being overcharged, with profit motive?.

There could be another debate, that Indian government is looking for ways to decrease or remove the subsidy over period of time and subsidy is being reduced further now. But, then how are our neighbors like Pakistan and Srilanka are in position to provide petroleum product price at better rate compared to India and still survive !!?!!. The point to note here, is that both Pakistan and Srilankan currency (Rupee) is weeker when converted to Indian Rupee.

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Depreciating INR… Gainers & Losers

With Indian rupee depreciating, it grim picture painted out on our economy. The instability is attributed to many factors including Euro crisis. Since 2006 economies around world is in turmoil, if one country attempts to come out, it impacts directly or indirectly the other country. It started of with US mortgage crisis in 2006/07, which was followed by Lehman brothers and other financial institution collapse in 2008, then came crash of stock markets, Euro crisis which was followed by appreciation of gold. The news coming out these days is quite conflicting, on one month one would see economic recovery being projected and the following month, one would see depressing news about economy.  
 What does rupee depreciation mean to Indian economy and who could be the probable Gainers or Losers?.

The Gainers: 

Exporters, particularly who are using the resource and raw materials by paying them in INR and getting return in USD. Companies earning in USD and reporting and exchanging to INR would stand to gain 

Indian Origin people sending foreign currency to India and converting into INR and making permanent investment in India. The reason being they would be getting more INR for lesser amount of USD. A 100 USD with exchange rate of 56.5 will fetch more INR compared to 100 USD with exchange rate of 40 INR.

 The Losers: 

Importers, more particularly India Government importing large volume of oil are bound to suffer. Normally such increase in Oil cost is passed on to the customer and naturally people of India would have to burn the money more. This would eventually continue spiraling of inflation, which is already high. 

Foreign equity investors who are looking for gains might lose, if attempt to pull out money. They now have to think or hold it for some time. The reason being, assume a foreign investor had invested in company ‘X’ in India when exchange rate was INR 45.00 (1 USD) and if he had invested USD 100, would exchanged to INR 4500 and invested the same. If there is a lock in period of 3 years and due to company profits the amount becomes INR 5700 in 3 years time, which is around 10% in ROI per year. However if the Foreign equity investor attempts to repatriate the investment back, due to prevailing exchange rate of 57 INR per dollar, the FI would get only 100 USD, in spite of money being invested for 3 years. 

In short term for India, it’s good that money does not flow out of India remain within India, however, in long run if INR is volatile and continue to depreciate the foreign investor would lose interest in Indian market.

Hence naturally, there is more to lose as for as India is concerned and lets hope INR bounces back in exchange rate.

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Why rent is better deal than mortgage?.

Recently,read this article on "mortgage loan" and felt worth sharing.

 Though the article had been written with US market in mind, the points mentioned would very well be applicable for Indians as well. On top of this, Indian system is suppose to have additional drawbacks,

 Indian interest rate is almost twice when compared to US, which mean higher out go of cash towards interest component in earlier years. Another point is that, one who invest money in mortgage, would have invested all his earning and he has to keep paying the interest component for the first few years. After few years, if one is able to make saving or his income increases and decides to pay back or part pay the home loan, its going to only reduce the principal amount for which the interest component is already paid during earlier years of loan.

 Hence, the real benefit is for the mortgage company or financier.

Finally, the cost of real estate in India seems to much higher than developed economies. An article related to " India property bubble".

Is worth to think through and decide before investing. 

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Yours Spiritually

Hinduism is one of the oldest religion in the world. Recently, started exploring  'Tirumantiram' by Tirumular written in Tamil. One of verse, I found  interesting at the start, which is very true as how any one get attracted to materialistic world,

    Marathai Maraithathu mamatha yanai
    marathin marainthathu mamatha yanai
    parathai maraithathu parmutharputham
    parathin marainthathu paramutharputhame.

A child looks at a toy elephant carved from wood. It sees only elephant and is not aware of the wood. A carpenter, on the other hand, looks at the quality of the wood and is not bothered about the carved creation. Like a child, we might be ignorant and aware only about outside attraction and materialistic needs and not aware of the lord who has manisfested the world. A saint or jnani on the other hand, sees only God in everything living or non living. He is not aware of the material world as we see it.

Hmmm... seems very true to me...

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Everything evolves, so is ERP

Recently, I received a forward note from my friend about an article "The End of ERP", however could not agree with key point mentioned in the article and hence thought of sharing my view points.

Any high tech product, whether hardware or software evolves over period of time, one would normally end up getting a better product by features and easier in use over certain period of time. Now to the topic of discussion, ERP had evolved over period of time. It was started as MRP(Manufacturing industry) and mainly in a mainframe environment, in early 90's with advent of client / server technology it evolved into ERP with finance based modules introduced. Still remember the days, in late 90's when ERP did not have modules to support marketing or sale activity and generally it started, with the business flow from order processing.

With Internet boom starting from year 2000 onwards, saw ERP vendors venturing into 3 tier architecture of browser, middle tier and DB tier. Naturally, when field force like sales and service can access ERP system from anywhere the ERP module footprint got extended into sales, service, CRM etc. All this time, the server and  application had to be procured and owned. In the last few years, a new paradigm is getting evolved in the form of cloud or subscription based computing model, where the company need not procure IT asset. This concept is catching up slowly, but may not be without challenges particularly if data is related to financial / statutory requirement. Some countries, may not allow a company financial transaction data to be stored in a different country due to statutory requirement.

These days with even business intelligence part being integrated with ERP, the ERP module footprint getting wider across industries with standard industry specific modules built and put to use. Hence, one cannot compare features across modules of ERP with specific functionality of sales and further ERP module footprints and features will evolve over period of time.

The cloud computing or subscription based model is more to do with where and how data is stored and accessed or its about the ownership of IT infrastructure. Hence, I feel this yard stick cannot be used to compare the specific products or its features.

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Indian Cricket team - Strategic management needed #$#!!!

With Indian team loosing out against Australia without any fight, a weird thought came to my mind. Is it weird?!!!.. may not be,......... might be a strategic management, the need of the hour ... .. : ).

 

If corporates can has strategy to sell their products and so is the army having strategy  to win wars, then why not the Indian cricket board  have strategy. Here goes the strategic suggestion...

The cricket board should have two teams,

Team A : All stalwart players, these players will play only at home series and they would be in position to win all matches including ODI world cups, T20, 10's , test etc. Apart from home series matches with wins, they can concentrate on advertisement, sponsorship and earn for themself and board.

Team B : All the rookie players, these players would only play at abroad series. In this case, there is nothing to loose and even if they loose one can always says the team is without experienced player and if they win the series, the best performers can be graduated to A team.

Won't this be win - win strategy plan #%???!!. :)

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