India: Its size, its people, its coming of age.
Do companies that wash their hands of several functions--especially "customer care"--by handing over contracts to business process outsourcing (BPO) outfits really "care" about their customers?More importantly, even after nearly a decade of having them around, most call centers remain centers of inefficiencies.
Sentiments undoubtedly play an important role in an economy. In recent times, we have seen how sentiments can swing consumer and investor behavior, thereby affecting the economy in some manner or the other.
I am not exactly a TV buff. In fact, I hardly watch TV.
It is election time here in India, and there is not a dull moment on TV-–shoes are being hurled at some politician or the other; candidates are making offensive speeches and remarks, and there is always news about how many fake voter ID cards are being found in various constituencies. The great Indian political circus is in full swing.
Artificial intelligence is getting more intelligent by the day. And honestly, this is something that scares me.
During the mid- and late-1990s, multinational carmakers were launching older editions of their hot-selling cars in the Indian market. Rumors were that some MNCs even brought in their junked plant material and machinery into India, in the name of foreign direct investment.
Strange things tend to happen during a recession. A recent report by Economist Intelligence Unit (Global Economic Outlook 2009-10) states that during recession, lipstick sales tend to go up.
Habits can change fast. For decades, I would head for two things in the morning--a hot cup of tea and a bunch of newspapers.
On Feb. 6, I received an invitation from a friend to join a group on Facebook--A Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women.
A week after B. Ramalinga Raju made his famous confessions of committing a US$1.
In Sanskrit, Satyam means truth. But what we saw today was quite the contrary.
We are left with very few hours of 2008--a rather volatile and difficult year for most of us. I have been meeting quite a few people of late--business tycoons, fund managers, senior executives at multinational firms, consultants and lots of ordinary salaried workers belonging to varied industries.
The world is today talking about Mumbai and the 60 hours of terror the whole of India lived in last week. It's truly shaken us as a nation.
Over the years, I have realized that when it comes to technology, the world can be divided into two kinds of people (no, I am not referring to the digital divide): One, the gadget freaks (who will save, beg or borrow to buy their dream gadget); and two, the wiser ones--who want value for money, and couldn't care less about brands and the latest gizmos in town.If you invest in expensive gadgets, you are exposed to threats from the 3Ts-–tumbling value, thieves and technology.
This has been the quietest Diwali that I can recall. Maybe the one in 1929 was equally bad, but then, I don't know anyone who was alive then to recall "Diwali in the year of the Great Depression".
