I recently returned from my first ever trip to India, and experienced firsthand the juggernaut that this country has become across most of the major industries in the world. You almost can’t open a newspaper or an Internet browser these days without seeing the impact this world-changing nation continues to have. Experiencing an average of 9% GDP growth per year for the last 3 years alone, India’s quick rise to global prominence and economic influence has been fueled in large part by the phenomenon of”globalization”, or the outsourcing of well-defined business processes to fast-growing Indian IT and professional services companies. In recent years, leading companies in India have begun re-defining globalization by turning the tide, expanding out and establishing leadership positions, or acquiring companies outright, in a variety of industries previously dominated by businesses from established nations. According to KPMG, Indian companies acquired 62 companies in the first 8 months of 2005, to the tune of $1.7B, and the pace just keeps accelerating. The world’s largest steel company, Arcelor-Mittal, was created less than two years ago by the successful pursuit by an emerging markets bellwether firm of an established Western counterpart, consisting of a small group of 100+-year-old companies. And if the purchase of a Jaguar or Land Rover is in your future, you will soon be making the check out to an Indian firm, Tata Motors. Read More »

Wait! Don’t worry — I’m certainly not about to opine about a 1970′s Canadian-penned classic rock song. (I admit, though, that it was pretty catchy tune despite the fact that they don’t pronounce the”g” in the first word- as a Webster, I am bound by my ancestral tie to Noah to have pet peeves of inappropriate use of language-Needless to say, discussions with my two year old at the dinner table can be quite heated…)Rather,”Taking care of business” in the service provider world means delivering highly available, scalable and reliable experiences -based on a solid foundation (Cisco IP NGN) and real market understanding. Running a great network is very much a provider’s business, and for many of them, offering managed services (or, an end customer business out-tasking the management of selected aspects of their network to a provider) is a very lucrative part of their services portfolio. For some, it is their sole focus. Read More »

I submit that success by providers in managed business services will be due in large part to an ability to mass customize the experience. The impetus to get this thought out and into a post was prompted by a recent In-Stat research study covering end-users of all sizes was announced and concluded that,”customer feedback indicates that a one-size-fits-all approach to managed services needs to change — by addressing specific vertical and horizontal market stakeholder needs and requirements.” Ahh, the wisdom of The Kinks.—”Give The People What They Want“.The conclusion to give the people what they want is not a radically new topic for managed business services. Providers of all sizes and focus have attempted to solve this either in word or in actual attempts. After all, it’s a mass-customized, on-demand world where end users are emboldened -- at work, home and on the move. Read More »

Measuring the pulse of the industry and keeping up with trends is a necessary part of many jobs, including mine -here are a few though-provoking posts that I have come across this past week that I thought may be relevant to you as well. Thanks for reading.Jon Arnold wrote an interesting post on Rethinking the Service Provider Business and discussed how revenues can be gained upstream (traditional subscriptions) and downstream (advertising, government services, etc.)John Battelle covered the recent spectrum auction in the US and assessed that while Google may not have been declared the winner, they may have achieved their goal. Read More »

Last week was quite a busy one for myself, as I had participated in the first ever industry and international regulator forum on March 10, that was chaired by Sanjay Ahuja, CEO Orange, Global Leader industry Forum held at Pattaya, Thailand. Read More »