Bing Review: Microsoft’s first web winner

For a change Microsoft gets it right with Bing. Bing clearly wins over Google on the following counts:

1. Visual Appeal- reminiscent of Ask.com’s earlier avatar.
2. Speed – it’s just as fast as google.
3. Clean categorization of ‘Related searches’, using Powerset’s technology (I presume)
4. A preview feature that helps you read content from the target site before clicking.
5. An overall philosophy focused on getting as much of the information you need from the search engine itself before actually clicking and going to a site, thereby making it a decision engine.
6. A spectacularly clean integration of Travel and Shopping into the search engine in a manner never seen before, including the special Bing Cashback discounts that you can avail by clicking through and buying products via Bing search results. (This feature is available on the US version of the site.)
   
7. Finally, Bing looks like it was designed for ‘real’ users, while in retrospect Google looks like it was designed more for geeks than regular users.

In short, Microsoft has surprisingly achieved the next frontier in search. Google may well outdo it in the future, but Microsoft has set the agenda for sure.

Insight Institutionalization

My latest article for The Hindu Business Line appears here: Weaving Insight into an Organization's DNA. Full text follows.

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In Meno, one of the dialogues written by Plato, Socrates contends that all knowledge pre-exists in an individual; all he needs is the ability to find out what is already inside him. It appears that Socrates was referring to the ‘insight’ or ‘inspiration’ dimension to the creation of new knowledge.

A lot of times, new insights appear to us in a flash, out of no logical process based on facts. This statement holds true today too, as a significant portion of new knowledge creation is often based first on insight and subsequently on ‘finding evidence’ to support the conclusion.

Whatever the truth of this assertion, it is hard not to see that insight/ inspiration are key tools for knowledge creation. However, these two dimensions find little place in modern organisations.

Focus on facts

For long, fact-based approaches have assumed a prime position in management thinking. One reason for this could be that facts are not subjective and hence leaders may view facts as a risk-free way to push through initiatives, make decisions and find solutions to problems. However, it is increasingly becoming clear that decision making is a far more complex process, where the whole is often greater than the sum of the parts.

Systems Thinking is a form of analysis in which problems are solved not just by understanding a component or part of a system, but rather by looking at its inter-relationships with the ‘whole’. Such an analysis would clearly need more than just an analysis of facts; it would require inputs from more nebulous things like ‘inspiration’ and ‘insight’.

In the model depicted in the accompanying graphic, an attempt is made to understand how ‘insight’ is a function of many parameters — facts being only one of them. Data in the external world becomes information through its organising. Analysis of this information leads to partial insight. This is fulfilled through further contributions from past experiences of the decision maker, as well as the creative force of inspiration.

In the absence of experience and inspiration, it may well be argued that all decision making could be entirely done by machines and there is no need for human intervention. Moving on, codified insight becomes knowledge, which when acted upon becomes a practice. Practice in turn generates further data and so on.

Institutionalising insight

Unfortunately, most organisations do not invest in institutionalising the insight process. This means that ‘best practices’ may be discovered accidentally and not be scaled up to the entire system. Also, people end up sticking to existing norms, processes and approval mechanisms without questioning whether or not things could be any better. Here are some thoughts on how insight could be institutionalised.

Acceptance of failure: The first step is the creation of a culture that is extremely accepting of failure. It is not hard to see that the ability to see new creative possibilities is closely linked to a tolerant view of failure.

Investing in cross-functional skills: Organisations rarely invest in the creation of cross-functional skills amongst managers. One of the biggest threats to insight realisation is ‘silo-based’ thinking, where individual divisions seek to maximise their own self-interest, leading to highly non-cooperative political environments. In such environments, people tend to focus only on their ‘parts’ without realising that the ‘whole’ is greater than the sum of the parts.

For instance, most multi-product companies routinely fail in implementing effective cross-selling programmes because of this very reason. Once an investment is made in the creation of individuals who appreciate the ‘whole’, the above problems would diminish.

Hubs for insight realisation: To close the gap between insight and implementation, it would help to have hubs or teams that focus exclusively on realisation of insight in the real world.This would be done in the form of quick pilots, which if successful would scale up to become new practices.Often, line managers do not have the bandwidth to focus exclusively on such initiatives as they would come in the way of fulfilment of regular responsibilities or achievement metrics.

The role of new insight and knowledge creation in an organisation cannot be underestimated.Today, rapid advances in technology mean that the duration for which any organisation can hold on to a ‘competitive advantage’ is severely compressed.This implies that institutionalising insight is key to sustainability through the creation of new sources of competitive advantage.Hence, it is important to respect the role of insight and also understand that its source lies not just in fact-based analysis.

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Older columns:

• The Service Oriented Organization
• The Free sourcing ecosystem
  
• Changing Time
  
• Organization Culture as an Emergent Phenomenon
  
• Wealth in Ideas and Relationships
  
• Unlocking Value - extending self-actualization to organizations
• An evolutionary view of leadership
• Leaderless Groups - a case against hierarchy
• The long tail opportunity
• Interactive Brands
• The spiritual organization
• The networked marketplace
• Decision making in groups
• Free riding and social loafing

Service before Profit

My latest opinion piece for The Hindu Business Line appears here: Service before Profit
Full text follows:

We live in a world where the simple greed of private enterprise has led to a large scale economic recession. Yet, there is no serious discourse happening on whether things have fundamentally changed in the manner in which business is to be conducted in the future. As Governments announce bailout packages of unheard of proportions, it is abundantly clear that we are witness to an extraordinary period of ‘Keynesian’ State intervention in private enterprises and t he economy. This is as good a time as any to reflect on the fundamental motivations that drive business organisations and the role they need to be playing in the post-Industrial Revolution era. In fact, this period of time may well mark the last bridge between industrial era ideas of enterprise and the knowledge economy.

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was brought about by inventions like the steam engine and the invention of other technologies that enabled the mass production of goods at centralised locations and their subsequent distribution to markets. It may be argued that the seeds of a consumerist society were first sown at this time. Clearly, if you had the technologies at hand to efficiently mass produce goods, then it is only logical that at some point you would like to sell things to people who don’t need those things in order to keep the revenues coming in. Additionally, if shareholders demand growth in profits above all other considerations, the vicious circle becomes complete. In other words, all incentives point towards the creation of short-term bubbles in the quest for short-term gains.

Service Oriented Organisation

The post-industrial world clearly needs a new definition of what a business organisation exists for, particularly because service- and knowledge-based industries assume centre stage in it. It could be argued that this ‘new’ definition needs to place the notion of ‘service’ at its very heart. That definition could be as follows: ‘A structured social and economic entity designed for the efficient and scalable delivery of service to society in a financially and environmentally sustainable manner.’

It is important to note that this definition of an organisation does not include the word profit. Instead, it emphasises that a business needs to be viable both financially and environmentally. Man’s conquering of nature was an important characteristic of the Industrial Revolution, but the problems that the world faces today (climate change, for one) makes it clear that there is a need to get back in synch with nature.

In some ways, the definition also aims to integrate the western protestant work ethic (which some say helped achieve the Industrial Revolution), with the eastern notion of work as an offering (or service) to a higher power with no anticipation of results. Eastern philosophies pay more attention to the actual process of work and the attitude towards work as opposed to the results it produces. In our current context that means focussing on the everyday act of service to a customer as opposed to things like ‘ticket size’.

Implications of Service-Oriented Organisations

There are many implications arising out of using service as the primary metric of success. The first impact is on the notion of customer segmentation. Customer segmentation would now refer to the addressable group of customers who need a particular product or service, not necessarily those who can afford to buy it. Only when there is a genuine need can you genuinely ‘serve’. Everything else is mis-selling.

Secondly, it impacts the entire notion of pricing. Typically, businesses use pricing itself as a ‘strategy’, whereby a price is set on the basis of the value perceived by a customer as opposed to being based on the actual value of the product. When the former strategy is used, pricing becomes all about manipulation of customer perception, value through branding and positioning. In the new order, marketing and communication would centre around the communication of value and not the artificial creation of value.

Thirdly, shareholders would be rewarded more through dividends and less through capital gains. In other words, the excessive obsession with growth and diversification that characterises current industry would make way for a greater emphasis on quality of service and retention of customers while focussing on core competences. Of course, this does not apply to early stage businesses that are yet to scale up. Here, we are referring primarily to the large, well established players in any industry.

Finally, there would be an impact on human capital. It is not difficult to surmise that employees in a service-oriented organisation are likely to be more loyal and satisfied, and contribute more, simply because serving other people is far more meaningful than serving only a ‘bottom line’. It is easy to witness this phenomenon in public sector companies, which have a larger goal of ‘nation building’ that goes beyond mere profit.

None of these implications are beyond imagination. In fact, most successful organisations already use similar principles in various ways. Finally, it must be re-emphasised that a serviced oriented-organisation does not shun profits, but rather has its own way of looking at profits as part of a larger scope of end results and not the sole metric of achievement.

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Previously published pieces:

• The Free sourcing ecosystem
• Organization Culture as an Emergent Phenomenon.
• Changing Time
• Wealth in Ideas and Relationships
  
• Unlocking Potential
• An evolutionary view of leadership
• Leaderless Groups - a case against hierarchy
• Free riding and social loafing
• Decision making in groups
• The networked marketplace
• The spiritual organization
• Interactive Brands
• The long tail opportunity

When work is invisible, so are its satisfactions

Pretty interesting perspective on how the intangible nature of the work done by knowledge workers leaves them dis-satisfied at the end of it : link

The Free sourcing ecosystem

My latest column for The Hindu Business Line appears today - The Free sourcing ecosystem
Full text follows:
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The first wave of outsourcing was enabled by major trends such as the rapid advances in information technology and communication, opening up of national economies and availability of skilled labour markets in these countries. Initially, outsourcing was viewed as a way to ship ‘non core’ activities out of the parent organisation to specialists offering the same service at a low cost. However, a study of the competitive advantages possessed by players in any indu stry would reveal that the notion of ‘core’ and ‘non core’ is gradually blurring.

While some players possess advantages in product design, others do so in distribution and some others in customer service. It is not difficult to imagine a future in which enterprises focus only on one kind of specialised activity in which they possess competitive advantages over other players and do not participate in other activities. Such an ecosystem would consist of highly specialised firms that come together in various configurations to innovate, produce and distribute goods and services to customers. What kinds of players would such an ecosystem of enterprises consist of?

Artists — Product and Design organisations: These would be knowledge-oriented enterprises that thrive on the study and creation of knowledge. Their primary function would be in the arena of product design and research and development. The revenue source for these companies would be the creation of intellectual property which would in turn lead to licensing opportunities. This model is not unlike that of an artist who creates an original body of work for which he can earn royalties over an extended period of time.

Craftsmen — Production companies: These are companies and individuals that are engaged in the act of actually producing goods and services. In other words, the role they perform is that of a craftsman or artisan who mass produces objects of a given design. The specialised skill they bring to the table is the ability to efficiently mass-produce products through appropriate use of resources and technologies. Additionally, these entities may also add value through product customisations and tweaks that build on existing intellectual property. The end product would either carry the brand of the production company or that of the product and design company.

Socialisers — Distribution companies: The role of socialisers is primarily to ensure that the output of the craftsmen reaches society through marketplaces. These are companies with distribution infrastructure that may support multiple products of the same industry or different industries. The underlying assumption is that in the end, the customer has the final word on product choice. The role of the socialiser is to ensure availability of all options. The revenue stream for these entities would be in the form of commissions from various production companies they serve.

Fulfillment providers — Service companies: Service companies would engage primarily in the arena of customer fulfilment and after-sales support. Once again, these companies may operate across products and across industries. Outsourced call centres are an example of entities that perform this function today. These entities benefit from economies of scale and are hence able to offer highly competitive prices to the production companies.

End customer (Co-creators and Evangelists): The end-customer is also an important part of the product life cycle. The first role he plays is that of an influencer through evangelism of good products. The second role he plays is that of a co-creator of new products. The views of the end-customer directly affect future design of new products. In this way, the end-customer is closely linked to the design companies and has an active say in the kind of products and services he would want to use.

For each industry, the combination of players that would come into play in this ecosystem would be different. Let’s look at how a model like this fits into an industry like asset management (mutual funds and so on).

In the ‘free sourcing ecosystem’, the ‘artist’ role would be performed by companies that purely specialise in research and creation of portfolios of instruments to invest in. There would be no ‘craftsmen’ because the product in this case is not a tangible, physical one. The ‘socialisers’ would be the various companies — like online trading portals, distribution companies and so on — that distribute these investment products . The ‘fulfilment providers’ would consist of BPOs that handle operations and after-sales support. The ‘end customer’ would be a co-creator whose inputs would influence future product design.

Depending on the industry under consideration, some players in the ecosystem may be absent. However, the broader idea is of a marketplace of specialised enterprises that freely come together in various configurations and freely separate and plug into configurations with other enterprises if things do not work to mutual benefit. It is not difficult to see that an ecosystem like this will ensure that there are minimal inefficiencies in the entire value chain from product innovation to product consumption.

Older columns are as follows:

• Organization Culture as an Emergent Phenomenon.
• Changing Time
• Wealth in Ideas and Relationships
  
• Unlocking Potential
• An evolutionary view of leadership
• Leaderless Groups - a case against hierarchy
• Free riding and social loafing
• Decision making in groups
• The networked marketplace
• The spiritual organization
• Interactive Brands
• The long tail opportunity

Fixing the subprime mess

Firstly, I'm no expert on this subject, but here's something I've been thinking of as a possible solution to the crisis.

Make all mortgage payments of existing homeowners in the US to be 100% tax free for a period of say 5 years. This would make the net cost of payments lower for the end customer and hopefully reduce foreclosure rates. It would also provide an incentive to households to divert as much of their income as possible to mortgage payments (after all they get to own their houses as well as pay less tax to the government). This in turn may help housing prices to stabilize instead of going down, and all those potentially worthless mortgage backed securities may finally have some value.

(PS: This is just an idea that popped into my head - haven't quite done enough research on the financial crisis to verify if this will work)

Update:
Very interesting news item on the CNBC site on the increasing rate of foreclosures in the US.
McCain wants the government to actually buy out mortgages.
"The administration is not doing what I think they should do, and that's go in and buy out these bad mortgages, give people mortgages they can afford, stabilize home values and start them back up again," McCain said in a live interview with his vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin.

It looks like McCain is approaching this problem from the right direction in so far as recognizing that a possible solution likes in 'bailing' out end customers which sets a virtuous cycle in motion, as opposed to just bailing out financial institutions.

Satirical video on the markets

All about the markets, investment banking and the sub-prime crisis.