IT.in 2006

The ninth edition of IT.in (originally IT.com) got over on October 31, 2006.

The Palace Grounds exhibition area had air-conditioned stalls with high quality exhibits. The Palace has an unmatched elegance

There were excellent conferences (HR, Indian Semiconductor Association and SME Forum); there was an excellent CEO Forum and a Panel moderated by none other than Mr HS Balram, Editor, Times of India.

There was WiMax at work (with a tower in place); WiFi access was provided for people to access Net.

Yet the buzz was missing! There were hardly any large-scale visitors!

It is time Government of Karnataka gets serious, find an organization that plans throughout the year and runs it professionally

Else IT.in will soon be IT.out!

Bharti joins Rs Trillion club

Bharti (telecom service provider with Airtel brand) joined the elite club of companies with Rupees Trillion market capitalization. For years only the public sector ONGC had this credit. Another public sector giant NTPC (power utility) joined the club sometime back. The first private sector to join the club is Reliance which recently moved past NTPC and ONGC. IT major Infosys joined the club two months back; another IT major TCS joined the club within days of Infosys getting to that stare. This week Bharti joined this elite club.

Today we have two public sector companies and four private sector companies in this club. IT (software and telecom) accounts for 50%!

Infosys does India proud again

Infosys is 25 years old. They took 23 years to cross the first Billion Dollars of annual business. Infosys is the first listed Indian company with this distinction (TCS crossed its Billion Dollars but it was NOT listed in 2003). I did write a piece in Financial Express (April 16, 2004) that Infosys created history on April 13, 2004 with their crossing $ 1 Billion. Today on April 14, 2006 they have created history again.

Interestingly, Microsoft crossed its first Billion Dollars in its 15th year (Infosys did in 23rd year). Interestingly Microsoft took another 2 years to cross $ 2 Billion; Infosys did the same! Considering that $1 = Rs 44 or so and Infosys has bulk of the employees in India, this is indeed commendable performance!

Professor Sadagopan’s Weblog › Dashboard — WordPress

Professor Sadagopan’s Weblog › Dashboard — WordPress


Ibahealth starts Indian operations
April 1st, 2006
Ibahealth, Australia’s largest healthcare IT Company started its India operations on March 30, 2006 in Bangalore. With its recent acquisition of the innovative healthcare solution company Medicom, ibahealth starts with 150+ staff on Day 1.

I view the next wave of growth for IT services in India through “domains” – automotive, telecom, banking & financial services, tourism, hospitality, industrial automation … AND healthcare. Naturally, I am excited with ibahealth setting up shop in India.

Healthcare is one industry whose health is always “pink”; when everyone is sick, healthcare will be growing; and when everyone is fit, it just becomes fitness industry!

India is accepted in the world for its IT prowess; Indian doctors are generally well-received around the world. It is time we combine IT and healthcare to kick-start the next growth engine.

I am familiar with Medicom, thanks to their innovative solution powering such hospitals such as Satya Sai Hospital in Bangalore; in a quick look at ibahealth web-site, I found healthcare-specific workflow. I always felt workflow would fly, only if it is aligned to a specific application segment. Healthcare being an inherently people-centric service – doctors, nurses, para-medical staff, drug delivery and diagnostic experts – workflow in healthcare would be a big hit; it will help us to build a patient-centric hospital as opposed to equipment-centric hospitals we built in the yester-years.

Operating in India, ibahealth should move beyond “best practice” to “next practice” - a term coined by Professor CK Prahalad of University of Michigan – with whom IIIT-B has special association. India is one country that can bring about 10-fold cost reduction – not 10% - as experiments like Jaipur Foot and Arvind Eye-care have proved. As Devi Shetty of Narayana Hrudayalaya would put it “healthcare if not affordable is not available”. We need to engage in models of dramatic cost reduction, if we are to take healthcare to ALL Indians.

Finally, as Mahatma Gandhi would often remark, providing healthcare would be satisfying – the satisfaction that we bring to a patient, often silently expressed as a thankful glance from the eye of a cured patient, not even well-articulated – is worth far more than millions of dollars!
I wish ibahealth (and “Medicom Inside”) the very best in the years to come

(Keynote Address given on March 30, 2006 at Bangalore at ibahealth India launch)