SMAC-leading a way to Business Transformation

SMAC is throwing up huge opportunities as firms want to optimize investments in current technology and drive growth by using digital technologies and platforms. The digital forces of social, mobile, analytics and cloud (SMAC) will reach mainstream status in 2014 and create requirements, drive new purchasing and establish new competitive realities. Only when social, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies are implemented as a stack, and applied to key processes, will meaningful results then follow. Mobility, analytics and social media created new revenue opportunities and business lines to create differentiation in the market. Increasing adoption of cloud computing has pushed Indian IT players to devise the core value propositions and delivery models. With increase in Social networking by a widening base of mobile/tablet users presents opportunities for analytics enabled by cloud computing Mobile devices are a platform for effective social networking and new ways to work Analytics (Big Data) helps gain meaningful insights from the information, facilitating informed decision making Cloud enables delivery of information and functionality to users and systems.

SMAC Stack – A Step Change Driving Exponential Growth in Computing Devices and Data

Today’s SMAC Stack-‘the fifth wave’ of IT architecture-is happening faster than anything that’s come before. By 2020, as many as 100 billion computing devices will be connected to the Web, and corporations will be managing 50 times the data they do currently. So SMAC will have a multiplying effect on businesses and increase productivity across the organization.

In all industries across the business landscape, the SMAC Stack is eroding the century-old blueprint of value chains and spawning new, highly distributed, virtualized business models. The power of this technology platform is in treating it as a stack, for its components have a multiplying effect when they work in combination. As an example, retailers are strategically deploying the SMAC Stack across key business processes to combine the best of virtual and physical shopping experiences.

Today’s SMAC Stack Masters Pave the Way

The power of disruptive business models such as those pioneered by Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Google, etc. originates from managing SMAC technologies as an integrated stack and fundamentally enabling business models by using this integrated technology stack. For example, when selecting a book on Amazon, buyers are presented with recommendations, based on analytics and very sophisticated algorithms. Once chosen, the book is served up from “the cloud” to a mobile reader of choice for instant enjoyment. Afterwards, if so motivated, the buyer can then recommend the book to their social network.

Emerging SMAC stacks Solution Areas

The SMAC stack can transform the interactions with your key constituents, so these are the first places to look. The four primary areas are:

1. The customer interface: Next-generation marketing, selling and servicing.

2. The machine interface: Seizing advantage with Smart Products and the Internet of Things.

3. The partner interface: Collaboration and co-creation of products and services.

4. The employee interface: Mastering the new management process in the social enterprise.

In the same manner that the “ERP,” “CRM” and “HRM” categories were created 20 years ago as key solution areas for the client/server stack, we believe four key SMAC stack solution areas are quickly crystallizing. The SMAC stack, if applied holistically, can help organizations unbundle tightly-coupled, industrial-age value chains and transform business, if not entire markets, creating boundary less ways of working.

According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), Indian IT vendors are expected to generate USD 225 billion from SMAC-related revenue by 2020 of the USD 1 trillion global opportunities. Cloud represents the largest opportunity under SMAC, increasing at a CAGR of about 30 per cent to USD 650-700 billion by 2020, followed by social media, which will offer a USD 250 billion market opportunity by 2020.

Shaileja Pagare

Class of 2015

A CLOUDBURST IN THE CLASSROOM:  Omnipresence of telecom

Cloud computing apart from being proving to be cost-effective & essential to store & recover big data in today’s large scale data environment has the potential of completely changing the education system of India.

The average pupil-teacher ratio according to All India Student Education Survey is healthy 31.But this figure can easily go up to one teacher per 120 and in worst cases 600 pupils considering the fact that many of them teaches multiple subjects. Even then many of the teachers add to the no’s but don’t add value to the education system. Looking at another surprising fact that more than 3, 50,000 engineering teachers are needed to cater some 4 million students in the field. That is where cloud technology can be used to augment the system.

The bright side

Cloud not only lowers costs, but provides a degree of scalability and keeps complexity in central location. Based on this technology Cisco has developed an integrated hardware. Software loud solution for education labeled Dwara which costs only 1$ per month over 3 yrs. It lets teachers in a central location interact and share content with students in multiple locations in real time .It has everything a classroom needs – router, computer, projector, cameras speakers, microphones, and even power management. By using it teachers can interact with their teachers all over the world and most importantly to those places where facilities of high quality education are not available , hence students from remotest of places can avail education facilities without having to move from their houses and going anywhere all they need is a single internet connection. The real benefit of cloud classroom is that it enables students to go back to the content whenever they want .The problem with live classrooms is that you cannot pause,rewind and forward so students might miss some important parts if connectivity is not there or if they are not to concentrate throughout the duration of class, but all these things can be done in cloud classroom.

The dark side

 But it is not totally a rosy picture, as the technology’s implementation has been hampered by cost of implementation which is on the higher side and also by poor last mile connectivity. With India’s internet penetration still as low as 8% which is mostly limited to India’s urban area, there is a big question mark that this technology will be able to reach those areas where it is required most i.e. rural and remote areas. Hence its adoption is expected to pick up once last mile connectivity is improved. But still there is a silver lining considering that karnataka goverment. has already implemented it in a handful of rural schools and to train teachers in some districts. GateForum also use cloud to help final year engineering students in small cities like Agra to prepare for annual graduate aptitude test in engineering. But the largest on ground implementation is NIIT’s cloud campus which now has availed this technology in its 150 centers worldwide

Aditya Yerunkar

Class of 2015 

Smart-phones business in INDIA: Getting bigger, brighter, and even smarter!

One out of every 7 persons in the world will have a smart phone this year. According to a new forecast from market research firm IDC, more than 1 billion new ‘smart phones’ will make their way into consumers' hands in 2013, the first time it will reach that mark in a single year! India’s total population 1.27 billion. Population between 15 and 50 years: 640 millions (approx.) Number of smart phone users in India: 67 Millions. This proves that the penetration of the smart-phones will be much higher in the upcoming days. When we talk about the smart-phones, we must talk about the types of smart-phones those are popular in India. Low price, high memory, bigger displays, better music system, better camera. “Indian market is too much price sensitive and competitive.” says Alcatel Lucent CEO Michel Combes. Major smart-phone providers in India: Samsung, Micromax, Apple, Blackberry, NOKIA, htc etc…

Samsung: According to the report, Samsung had 43.1 percent smartphone market share at the end of 2012, which does not include the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Note II, which the market research outfit classifies as phablets and does not include in its smartphone shipment numbers. The actual reason for the success is they targeted customers very well. However, they did not innovate but they have launched their products at proper time and with proper price. The most noticeable thing about Samsung is they have targeted all the segments whether it is high-end customer segment or low-end customer segment. When in 2007 Apple comes with its first iPhones suddenly in 2007 end Samsung adapted Android operating system and launched many smart phones that helps them really well in grabbing the market. Recent news is that Samsung is going to release 2 new smart phones ranging around 15000Rs in 2014 targeting the youth.

NOKIA: Microsoft and Nokia have been more aggressive about pushing new phones running the platform onto the market, particularly by showing off camera-focused models such as the Nokia Lumia 925 and 1020. Nokia, in fact, recently pushed out an ad directly challenging the iPhone by lampooning Apple’s “Photos Every Day” ad that touted the fact that the iPhone is the most-used camera on the market. Once NOKIA was the market leader in India. Then, what went wrong with NOKIA? When apple came with its innovative iPhones for the first time in 2007, companies like Samsung realizes that it is a market transition point and to sustain in this market they need to give better products with competitive features. However, at that time rather than adapting a new operating system NOKIA stuck to his old symbian OS. Then as we all know the market of NOKIA started falling. Then back in 2011 NOKIA adapted windows OS and tried to catch the market that it has lost earlier. But it will take time to compete with widely acceptable android OS. Analysts are expecting that Windows Phone to eclipse iPhone's market share by the year 2016 due to the recent release of the Nokia Lumia 925 to emerging markets.

Micro-Max: In 2008, it entered mobile handset business and by 2010 it became one of the largest Indian domestic mobile handsets company by offering unique affordable innovations. The company has a 22% market share in the smartphone segment in India As per IDC Asia/ Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker 2013 Q2. The reason for micro-max’s success is it has adapted new technologies at the right moment. It’s main target is youth and lower-end segment. It has also introduced segment specific phones like for young girls BLING 2.This strategy has helped it in growing rapidly.

Apple: Apple is known for its innovations. Apple was the one who changed the definition of a smart phone. Earlier smart phones were for business people but apple changed the whole conception in 2007 by launching iPhones with innovative apps. Apple’s concept is to provide best and most innovative phones to its customers. Apple recently launched iPhone 5S and 5C. 5C is the cheaper version and made to target especially Asian market. It is seen that iphone 5C has copied the style of LUMIA’s covers; it may be a point that can tamper its innovative image.

Htc: HTC is aiming to capture 25 percent smartphone market share in India in 2013, Faisal Siddiqui, country head, HTC India told at the sidelines of the HTC Butterfly launch. What went wrong with htc is they did not target the market properly in the earlier stage of the smartphone era. What Samsung did is they targeted every segment by launching different phones but htc stuck with the high-end customers only. That went wrong but letter it realizes and launches low-end phones like htc explorer, desire etc. But the question rises here is it sufficient to grab the market back?

Blackberry: Once upon a time, they were so-called one and only business phones. But Samsung and Android OS together broke it. The problem that has happened with blackberry is they responded late while Apple and Samsung are competing in to the markets. Their main flagship feature BBM is expensive while whatsapp OTT player has provided the same on iOS, android and windows phones for free. This has smacked blackberry very badly. Now blackberry has responded and launched 3 back to back smart-phones in 2013.

Now, we will have to wait and watch to see who wins the race.

MONIL THAKER

Class of 2013-15 

Where the Telecom industry is heading in coming years...? 

          The historic Indian economic reforms of 1991 which gave birth to LPG policy (Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization) completely changed the industrial and business scenario in India. It boosted many sectors in India; telecom sector being one of them. India being a developing country and also the second most populous, Indian telecom industry has witnessed several key moments in the last couple of decades. While many of the events like NTP of 1999 and broadband policy of 2004 led the foundation to help the telecom sector flourish, some of the recent issues like 2G scam have caused uncertainty and slowed down the growth. But recently due to some advancements in FDI and government policies, the debt ridden mobile operators have got some ray of hope. The future of Indian Telecom industry as well as Global Telecom will depend a lot on few factors which are the major driving force for them.

Government Policies

            One of the biggest reasons why telecom industry is sceptical about Indian telecom environment is ambiguity in government policies. Even after government approved 100% FDI in telecom, operators are not sure about M&A policy and hence we won’t see any major advancement in telecom investments in India. With decision on telecom M&A policy around the corner, we can hope for some good news for mobile operators and also users. If the policy is positive for operators, big foreign guns like Vodafone will try to get maximum stake in Indian market.

            The government has also announced key policy measures intended towards providing a transparent business environment to bring the telecom sector back on track. The government has made it clear that future licenses will be de-linked from the spectrum, and companies will need to buy bandwidth at market rates, going forward. While many of the recommendations are yet to be implemented, government has already issued final guidelines on Unified License. According to the new rules, telecom operators can offer telephony, Internet, IPTV and linked communications services under a single license replacing the earlier United Access Service License (UASL) model, where operators had to take separate licenses for offering each of those services. So, in coming years, we can see operators providing these services on a large scale and in a cost effective manner.

            The government is also thinking about refarming of spectrum in 900 MHz band. The operators have taken varying stands on the crucial matter of re-farming that primarily deals with re-auctioning of spectrum once the licence of an existing operator expires and spectrum is vacated. Three private operators (Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea), besides state-run BSNL and MTNL, hold nearly 85% of the spectrum in the 900 MHz band, which is considered valuable by mobile operators in view of the cheaper capital expenditure required for rollout of services. Licences of operators in this band will be expiring progressively from the year 2014 to 2024, prompting the newer operators to seek a chance for buying spectrum. So this will create a level playing field for all operators but at the same time will create a blood bath during spectrum auction. It’s a wait and watch game as to how things will work out.          

Increased Competition among operators

            As aforementioned, privatization attracted many domestic and foreign telecom players in India. Today, considering the vast geography and potential subscriber growth, nearly 13 mobile operators are providing mobile and data services in India. In 2003, Reliance, led by Mr. Mukesh Ambani, disrupted the Indian telecom market with its Mobile Monsoon Hungama offer, wherein they introduced subsidized phone with super cheap call rates. It compelled other telcos to introduce various budget mobile schemes and put the market on fire.

            But the dynamics have changed today as users are concerned with the data schemes provided by their operators. Current trends show that data ARPU forms nearly 30% of ARPU for almost all the operators. In the coming years, with technology slowly shifting from 2G to 3G to 4G LTE, data ARPU is going to be the major revenue source for mobile operators. So the operators like Reliance Jio and AirTel which have 4G licenses can be winners in this case.

New Technologies – 4G LTE

            The major reason for the surge in growth of Telecom Industry has been timely innovations and new technologies. The world is talking about 4G LTE but most of the rural India still lives in 2G world. 3G did not catch the required user attention in India but success of 4G depends on how mobile operators communicate with the users.

            The immature Indian LTE ecosystem, especially so in the TDD variant of LTE, has been a major roadblock for Indian telcos. The device manufacturers have been focusing on the FDD version of LTE mainly because this was witnessing accelerated adoption. This is also the key reason why telcos like Aircel, Tikona and Reliance Jio are yet to launch 4G services in the country. But now that the LTE TDD technology has been launched in Japan and China, device manufacturers have started developing devices for this technology. Despite the positives, the mobile device ecosystem for 4G could still take two or more years to really develop even to the level of 3G in India given that 3G itself has not reached up to a satisfactory level in India.  The challenge faced by the Indian operators is the ecosystem and once that falls in place it will trigger very fast.

Deals with OTT players

            Recently, Over the Top (OTT) players like Whatsapp, Nimbuzz, Facebook, Viber, Skype, Twitter, etc. have become a threat to mobile operators as they are eating into their SMS revenue. These OTT players are here to stay as they offer social networking benefits to the users.

            Mobile subscribers’ adoption of OTT services has had a momentous impact on mobile operators as data revenue seems to be the way ahead for telcos. Telecom operators are increasingly exploring the possibility of partnering with Over the Top (OTT) players for mutual benefits. Vodafone partnering with Twitter and AirTel partnering with Google are few examples. With more and more consumers gravitating to Smartphone’s and subscribing to an ever expanding array of OTT services, the operators are left with little picks. Undoubtedly, the Indian telcos are actively pursuing opportunities to establish meaningful businesses with OTT players to effectively monetize the benefits they bring. Almost every major operator is stepping out of its comfort zone to engage services offered by OTT players to add value to their offerings and in the process gain some competitive advantage. In a bid to drive internet usage, offering free access to OTT players will naturally add more internet users, which will, in due course act as a catalyst for generating higher revenues. Monetary realization of these partnerships will certainly take at least three-five years; hence to evaluate the success rate of such partnerships we have to wait and watch. But, this is how mobile operators will make use of OTT players in coming years.

Kiran Raikar

Class of 2015

NFC Technology – A long, dusty road to travel

What is NFC?

NFC (Near Field Communication) is a wireless data transfer technology between two devices that are in a proximity of around 4 cm. NFC is a subset of RFID technology and is based on principles of electro-magnetic field that interact with each other at close distances. NFC was developed by NXP (Phillips) along with Sony. Any activity that calls for proximity of a card/tag and its reader can be made simpler with NFC. Examples include credit card payments, access card authorization & attendance tracking, smart tag reader etc.

NFC is implemented in applications like Google Wallet and ISIS, which are mobile wallet systems. It can also be used for keyless entry systems in offices, metro stations and even cars. Restaurant bills and movie tickets can be paid for at ease with just a tap. This method of communication is popularly called the “tap-and-pay”.

The intuitive interface, versatility, standardization, interoperability and inherent security make the NFC a promising technology.

NFC and telcos:

Telcos get value from two factors: First and foremost, providing a service that meets a customer need and provider value. Secondly, ways to monetize the experience—not by scraping money from the merchants, but by adding value to the ecosystems through relevant loyalty programs, enhanced offers and rewards. Telcos have the potential—not the guarantee, but to influence the buyer at a new and previously unattainable portion of the retail chain, which is when they've got their money in their hand and they're about to commit. A telecom carrier could interrupt a retail transaction with a notification informing the subscriber that a discount retailer sells the same product at a lower price. That discount retailer would, of course, pay the carrier for these interruptions.

The sunny, bright side:

The future of mobile payments is going to be heavily influenced by the near field communications (NFC) technology. Recently retailers have upgraded their POS terminals to support chip-based cards; a logical extension will be the introduction of NFC-based contactless payments support.

Mobile wallet services will be lucrative for telcos that generate new revenue streams by using their positions as intermediaries in retail transactions as a selling point with merchants and advertisers.

The gloomy, dark side:

Criminals are likely to abuse the tap-and-pay NFC technology used in mobile payment programs, or digital wallets. Because of its extreme ease of use, internal data can be leaked easily just by placing phones close to each other. A virus infected device can steal information from every other device that it comes in contact with. These security risks can be mitigated in the enterprise by a combination of tools, policies and training. These polices should be able to give the IT teams access to devices while minimizing liability, prioritizing data security and at the same time recognizing the needs and rights of employees.

Gartner forecasts that NFC will account for only about two percent of total transaction value in 2013 and five percent of the total transaction value in 2017, although growth is expected to increase somewhat from 2016 when the penetration of NFC mobile phones and contactless readers increases. Worldwide, people are not purchasing as much because the buying experience on mobile devices has yet to be optimized, according to Gartner. People are spending less via mobile devices than via online e-commerce services and at retail outlets.

The GSM Association, which also noted it was publishing new specifications for NFC handsets and SIMs, continues to be concerned about big smartphone platform players, such as Google, Blackberry and Microsoft, along with some large handset makers. It fears that these so-called over-the-top players, as well as some device makers, will use embedded secure chips in their NFC phones to store revenue-producing applications–applications that the telcos would like to see running on their services.

The only way for telcos to ward off threats from reduced revenues due to reduced m-commerce applications is to make joint ventures with the mobile wallet developers. These help the telcos to minimize competition from the likes of Google and other new m-commerce players.

Sandhya Vijayan

Class of 2015

100% FDI in Telecom – Is it a change for the Better?

During the last decade, foreign investment has rapidly increased in developing countries like India and enhanced the economic growth. To maintain balance between economic gains from foreign investment and national telecommunications sovereignty is a challenging task. Liberal foreign investment on telecommunications will promote more economic gains including new and improved telecommunication products and services with lower prices and additional investment in other industrial sectors. 

Reasons for Increasing FDI in Telecom

Indian Telecom industry is suffering from a debt burden. Banks have already lent so much that they cannot stomach lending more. Indian telecoms today owe around INR 185,000 Cr to Indian and foreign banks. The burden is despite the fact that India has one of the largest telecom subscriber bases – around 897 million. Raising the FDI cap is expected to turn around things for the industry. With FDI gates opened, the telecom sector can garner the much-needed additional funds in coming months. The fresh inflow of money and reduced burden on local entrepreneurs will help the industry provide better quality services as well as adoption of the latest technologies. The industry is likely to have further consolidation with foreign players, who may eye the smaller players in the country.

India has already entered the last leg of a three-staged launch into telecom orbit. After the investor sentiments in India’s burgeoning telecom sector had hit all time low on account of cancellation of 122 odd 2G licenses and regulatory uncertainties. Things have never really looked up in the earlier two legs—of 49 percent and 74 percent FDI caps respectively. Experts predict that there won’t be any major changes to India’s telecom sector on account of change in Foreign Direct Investment into telecoms service from the current level of 74% to 100%. 

The return on 3G investments has obviously been too small to be worthy of being an offsetting factor. It was only after the failed 2G auctions that the government realized the magnitude of industry’s problems. That however, has not helped the industry recover from debts, which has also kept the stock prices as well as overall valuations of major India-based telcos under much pressure. It is unlikely to see a significant lift-up, given that the new FDI norms could increase the near-term competitiveness in the industry without a level playing field being in place.

It won’t therefore be unreasonable to say that a full FDI in telecom may not be enough to improve the overall health of the sector at this juncture.

Major reasons for Foreign Investors not to invest in India :

Regressive Government Policies

The infamous Vodafone tax case is a perfect example depicting the flaw in government policies. The policies being changed as and when needed is the signal that went out to foreign investors. The government needs to bring more clarity in its policies in context to regulation, licensing and taxation. 

Corruption

The 2G scam is an example for corruption in Telecom sector in India. Licenses were distributed on first cum first serve basis, but more pertinently, shifted the dates of application, allowed the entry of many foreign players. That had brought in fresh investment in the telecom sector in India, but also led to hyper-competition, with prices falling drastically, and some telcos offering free minutes just to get consumers on board. The falling prices were beneficial from a common man’s perspective but the signal that went out to the foreign investors whatever the Government of India decides, it might not hold up in court. Many foreign investors burnt their hands in this process, and decided to withdraw their business from India. Spectrum allocations have to be made in more transparent manner.

Aggressive Regulatory Policy

The Government bodies and regulators have been hyperactive recently regarding 3G roaming pacts, Vodafone 2G licenses in India.

However, the government’s consent on 100 percent FDI in the Telecom sector has definitely raised hopes in terms of growth and jobs. But the total effect of this policy change is yet to emerge. To retain talent is the main concern as per Dr. Sandeep Gandhi, chief human resource officer, Aircel. One needs to have patience and passion for technology and innovation to have a long-term career in this sector as suggested by him.

Well considered steps taken today will have a long term effect on the Indian telecom sector. So even if 100 % FDI is approved immediate miracles may not be expected. 

Aditya Yerunkar

Class of 2015 

OTT and Telcos : A Road Ahead

How many of us send sms today? It seems to be a yesteryear mode of communication between people through mobile phone, gradually and slowly they have been almost completely replaced by applications like whats app, facebook, nimbuzz , hike, skype  etc. and causing revenue loss to telcos of about $32 billion in 2013 which is estimated by analyst group Ovum to go up to $82 billion in 2020. By using these applications people can send messages to each other at virtually no cost using data connection hence completely bypassing the billing system of telecom players and leading to hefty revenue loss to telcos but providing tremendous value to the end users. These applications are provided by OTT(Over The Top) players whose 62% board  members profile are focused on sales, marketing and strategy while just 12% on financial matters while in telcos, 58% board members have legal, financial  or technical background. Hence OTT’s are better innovators and aggressive in terms of marketing strategies and sales and thus have better customer engagement.

Now what are the possible options for telcos to salvage this revenue loss? One being that they can block these OTT players to use their data network , but this step would bring customer criticism as OTT’s are providing high benefits to end users and telcos would lose these customers to the telcos who haven’t blocked OTT’s leading to more revenue loss. More feasible options for telcos would be to look for alternative ways to increase revenue like by hiking data roaming charges or increasing charges of  data usage plans as OTT applications require data network to transmit messages .Another alternative can be to look for having partnerships with OTT players  for providing unlimited access to their data network in return of some fees .According to allot’s mobile trends report 26% operators already have this revenue sharing model in place. If we consider India companies like RCom, Aircel, Airtel, Tata Docomo have already collaborated with players like Whats app, nimbuzz and facebook. Many more operators are to follow the same suit while many telcos are mulling whether they should collaborate or compete with the OTT players as they believe these partnerships wont last long due to difference in opinions between telcos and OTT’s .Those who have decided to compete like Airtel who has recently launched HIKE for Indian customers has imitated service model adopted by OTT’s and has shown promise by increasing their subscribers base to 5 million in just 4 months after its launch making it one of the fastest growing apps globally.

Looking at the success of some players like Airtel who have decided to compete by imitating service model others is also to adopt this model while many global players have decided to launch services on Rich Communicate Suite including Vodafone in Germany and Spain and TM mobile in Germany. RCS focuses on extending the communication options in mobile network beyond voice services and sms/mms services. They promise to provide peer-peer communication across parties .This is a move away from client-server paradigm used by OTT’s. This frees up both the users and developers alike in building future communication services, not being tied to single platform. The unique offering of RCS service model is that it provides guaranteed quality of service since it is offered over the managed IP network of the operators and hence is carrier grade. The model is however in early stages and would take time to develop in India.

Overall, OTT’s have thrown some serious challenges to telcos who are looking to get out of this trouble posed by OTT’s by imitating their models or by looking to provide better services in comparison to them. But looking at the past trends and because of the fact that OTT’s are better innovators they seem more likely in outwitting telcos who  seem to be short of ideas .Hence, best step which telcos can take is to have better partnership models with OTT’s who have a long road ahead of them.

Anuj Jain

Class of 2015