Romit's Blog

I'm Back!!! [chick here for pics]

2005-01-26T13:01:00.000-05:00

This was by far my quickest trip to "Mother Land", i.e. India, but it was a lot of fun. Got a chance to spend time with family, then friends and then with more family :). Also got a little work done, but then that was expected. Too tired to write anything right now... Jet Lagged!!! Will write soon...

As I walk in to the city....

2005-01-06T18:11:00.000-05:00

Five...four..three ... two ..one! and then a big scream as the ball drops in Time Square on the 31st Midnight. That's New York for you!

Its been a couple of months since i moved to the city, and i am still trying to figure out a lot of things about this place. It certainly has more energy than Princeton, and people are on the move all the time, its a city that never sleeps.

Every morning as I walk out of the path station, i find myself walking into this gigantic pool of energy. Everyone is either reading a newspaper or talking on the cell phone. I often wonder what they are talking about, is it work? is it personal or are they on the phone because there is nothing better to do? Its hard to tell, and i guess i'll never find out. .... any ideas?

Save a Life!

2005-01-04T17:25:00.000-05:00

While some of us were enjoying the
New Years with our friends and family,
there where thousand others who perhaps spent spent it looking for their loved ones. Tsunami has taken a lot of us by surprise.

Several of us have lost our friends, family in this devastating tragedy.
One of the ways you can make a difference is by donating to the Red
Cross, that is what I did.

Do visit the Red Cross at www.redcross.org and save a life !

Happy New Year

2005-01-01T21:42:00.000-05:00

Here is wishing everyone reading this a very happy and prosperous 2005!

Tsunami - a tragedy

2004-12-28T10:45:00.000-05:00

First of all my condolences to all the people who have lost their loved ones in this devastating tragedy. I have been reading a lot about the TSUMANIS and watching it on the news aswell, losing 23,000 people in a matter of hours is just very sad, and the CNN estimated the loss to be close to USD 10 Billion.

DEATH TOLLS

SRI LANKA
Sri Lankan military authorities report more than 18,000 people killed. Tamil Tiger rebels report 2,000 dead in the territory they hold in the northeast of the country.

INDIA
At least 9,500 killed by waves that flooded the southern coast, official media report.

INDONESIA
News agencies report more than 4,730 killed, many of them in Aceh in northern Sumatra.

THAILAND
Thai authorities report at least 1,000 people dead.

MALDIVES
46 people are dead and more than 70 missing, according to Hassan Sobir, the Maldives high commissioner.

Merry Christmas

2004-12-25T02:19:00.000-05:00

Its 2:19 am in the morning of the 25th, and we just got done with our christmas party. It was a lot of fun, specially the secret santa gifts that we gave each other. Here is what everyone had to say when i asked them to tell me a line on the evening:

Hitin: "Getting there"
Rachu:"let me think"
Manish: "my packing is the best na.."
Mayur: "Now we know some one collects victoria's secret bags!"
Rahul: "Can i get a cup of coffee?"
Janine: B..o...s!
Shereen: "damn, another yr older"
Afshaad: "p..e..r..f.e ..c..t"
Anupam: "Truly Inspired"
Romit: "kya yaar, i am not that old!!!"

Merry Christmas everybody!

"I don't want to go abroad, I am happy here"

2004-12-20T15:24:00.000-05:00

I know some of us at times go through dichotomy of sorts, when it comes to deciding whether we should continue pursuing our careers here in the West (US) or consider opportunities back in our country. In todays world the word "opportunity" does not signify monitory benefits, as was the case in the early 90's, what it signifies is an intellectually challenging work environment where individuals can proliferate.

Here is an interesting article which was published in the Economic Times recently. Check it out.

As the holiday season hits all of us, perhaps its time to sit with a warm cup of coffee and give this a little thought, I know i will...

Happy Blogging and Merry Christmas !

Global Sourcing 2005

2004-12-11T13:32:00.000-05:00

All right, so as the year winds up, companies are perhaps making their plans /goals for the coming year. The Indian IT industry has seen a substantial growth in 2004 and NASSCOM predicts a further increase in growth for 2005. The figure quoted by NASSCOM is USD 20 B (in exports). Sound crazy enough?

I attended a seminar on Global Trends of outsourcing in October. Here are some Key notes from the seminar given by Robert Mc Neil who is a Lead Analyst at Forrester.

Robert focused his talk on the recent IBM- JP Morgan outsourcing deal (JP Morgan withdrew a USD 5 billion outsourcing deal from IBM). He seemed to believe that was a very bold move on JP Morgan’s part, but also pointed out that the trends for such are reducing because of over dependence.

He mentioned that the outsourcing market will grow by 7% next year (2005), but will also see some trends of cost reduction due to competition. "The pricing for off-shoring have become a little transparent due to the benchmarking clauses" he said. Defined Process to support Global delivery will become more common, and certifications like CMM, Six Sigma, and ITIL and the latest eSCM-SP (for BPO) will become common.

Key Points:
-there will be an increase in third party brokerage
- Insurance and legacy are still key outsourcing areas
- Key components to select a client are:

+ Pricing : 53%

+ Knowledge of Industry : 49%

+ Domain Knowledge : 41%

+ Financial stability : 8%

+ Certification: 8%

Your Thoughts?