Looking in a different light

I have an awful attention span and so I suck at reading books, particularly novels. I'm only good at reading magazines and newspapers, which may be quite ironic for a guy who strings words for a living. While it's always been a struggle for me to finish reading a book, there are instances when I find myself buying one in the bookstore after browsing its first few pages or when I hear from someone that it's a good read. The last three books that I've purchased, interestingly, are all non-fiction. Yep, I'm not much of a fan of those fantasy books that have been made into blockbuster movies recently. One common denominator in the books that I've bought is that all of them were written, or at least co-written, by journalists. "The World is Flat" was authored by The New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, "The Tipping Point" by former Washington Post reporter and New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell, and "Freakonomics" was co-written by The New York Times writer Stephen Dubner They’'re all engaging, uncomplicated, interesting, and most of all, grounded on reality. Obviously, their background as journalists played a great deal in making their works relevant and easy to comprehend. (Now you know why I always keep describing myself in this blog as a journalist.) What made them best-sellers, in my opinion, is the fact that these books presented a new way of thinking, a different perspective in looking at ordinary things. By its title alone, Friedman's book provided a unique view in explaining the outsourcing trend sweeping the world. "The Tipping Point", on the other hand, presented "a new way of understanding why change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does", as the author puts it. "Freakonomics", meanwhile, provocatively "explored the hidden side of everything". What exactly is my point here? Well, it's important for us, particularly for the local IT industry, to always have a fresh perspective in looking at things. For the Philippines, it's essential to be innovative in the way the country conducts its business, especially in the ultra-competitive BPO field. In summary, I'd say that we should always seek to break new ground. This is perhaps particularly appropriate now that we are about to usher in a brand new year. Happy New Year, everyone. Industry Update
After a short sabbatical that took him to his home country India and Nepal, among other countries, Maulik Parekh, former general manager for the Philippines of call center operator TeleTech, is formally back in the country as the new president and CEO of SPi Global Solutions. SPi Global Solutions is a company that resulted in the merger of call center firm ePLDT Ventus and data outsourcing operator SPi Technologies. It is owned ePLDT, which, in turn, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT). The company claims it has more than 14,000 employees in the US, Europe, the Philippines, India and Vietnam.