Archive for the 'Business' Category

Website Designs - Easy on eyes

Who doesn’t like a new refreshing design? Especially if it is something to do with information heavy sites. Here are a few of them which I like for the way they present the information. Some of the websites have gone in for the design makeover recently and some long ago. Feel free to point out more such redesigned websites. I am all eyes for it.

List to be updated.

All That Tech

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III: The 21.1 Megapixel Camera!

canon-eos-1dsmarkiii.jpg


Source:
Canon

What do you think you would do with a camera that comes with a whopping 21.1 megapixels? Shoot everything in the world. You can do that now with Canon’s latest ground-breaking camera the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III. And for all of you who are interested in photography read more about this impressive technique High Dynamic Range Imaging to create beautiful HDR pictures.

Non-Windows Operating System From Microsoft!

While the battle between Yahoo and Microsoft gets hotter with the former trying to wage a proxy war to acquire the latter, Microsoft has put forth its Non-Windows Operating System codenamed Singularity. The project is an attempt by Microsoft to build a more reliable and robust operating system from scratch putting to use all the advances in programming languages, compilers and system level programming. Still in its early stages there isn’t any commitment yet from Microsoft on any commercialisation plans or status of Singularity.

500 Million Firefoxes and a Free Online File Converter

firefox-128.png
Source: Mozilla

Happy to note that Mozilla’s Firefox my preferred browser has been downloaded 500 million times. Zamzar is the place where you can head to when you have trouble opening that latest file format without the appropriate software installed on your system. Zamzar provides a free online file converter that allows conversions between a variety of file formats.

Google’s Gobbling Spree

Google is one company that is quite close to doing what Microsoft has done to PCs the world over—dominate the internet space. There are a few companies which have grown at such rate. Offering most of its products and services free of cost, Google still makes billions.

It should not surprise if Google in the coming few years completely eliminates the need for anything else than Google—at least to a majority of the netizens who want the basic services.Already having quite a lot of services and products and still adding to the list, Google looks hungry even now.

So what all things does Google have on offer?

  • Search
  • Blogs
  • Videos
  • Social Networking
  • Digital Photo Management
  • Document Creators
  • Telecom, Wireless
  • Internet

It is also interesting to note its acquisition spree that has seen it acquire more than 47 companies and still counting in a period of six years starting from 2001. The company looks right on target to become a dominating force on the internet. It is making the right moves at the right time with the right business strategy to make most of what it is spending.

It can also be observed that Google still wants to generate a major chunk of its revenue from advertising. This might or might not be the major revenue stream in the coming years.

While it keeps giving nightmares to established companies in various sectors including, Software, Telecom and Media etc., Google still allows millions of people use its simple but powerful products and services for free.

Happy Googling!

Sales Vs Support

I had an interesting debate with one of my close friends who happens to lead and manage a big support function for a leading company in India. He had asked me “How do companies define sales and support functions in terms of performance review and rewards?”It happened that my friend who handles a critical support function and one of his colleagues who works in the sales division joined the company at almost the same time. While the sales guy has already moved to the Assistant manager level my friend still is a senior executive. Now his point was what do the company actually looks at when it promotes someone, gives them designations and structures their pay:

  • Both of them had achieved similar targets which was a tough one and required some really good experience and excellent execution
  • Both of them had outperformed themselves and the expectations of the management
  • The sales guy has been promoted to assistant manger level and my friend who happens to handle the huge logistics operation ( the backbone of the company) has received a different appraisal
  • Now the question arises as how companies actually rate a performance -
    • is it in terms of new customers acquired (sales) or ability to retain existing customers (support)
    • is it the amount of business someone brings in or the amount of business that the company realises because of the work done by the support staff
  • If the company thinks that its only sales that drives a company then it has to be remembered that for any company a sale would happen only when there is a sound support function existing in the company
  • While the sales teams close deals it is the support teams which actually have to execute the orders in most of the cases - then doesn’t the company think that it also is an important function and division of the company
  • Most importantly any company can grow only when it has the ability to retain its customers (assured and regular income to support its growth plans) and acquire new ones
  • If sales gets you new customers, then in a majority of the cases customers choose the company based on how well the existing customers of the company have been provided support for the products or services
  • In most cases it is the sales teams in companies that are given incentives for getting new business. This is quite a laudable effort towards improving the motivation levels of the sales guys, but what about other divisions?
  • Does a sale happen without any other division of the company putting in their efforts?

Ultimately it is this step motherly treatment from most of the companies towards their support divisions which make them lose highly efficient talent whose efforts have not been acknowledged, rewarded or motivated.

Next Page »