The Hindu Business Line : Language policy and IT growth

The historical roots of the IT (information technology) industry lie in state intervention, and its later development owes some degree to the facilitative nature of state policies, writes Devesh Kapur in one of the essays included in Globalization and Politics in India edited by Baldev Raj Nayar ( www.oup.com).

Kapur argues that it would be a nuanced perspective to say that it was Rajiv Gandhi who, in the early 1980s, shifted the state’s role from being custodial (and protectionist) to promotional. “While this shift was certainly important for IT growth, its effectiveness was shaped by certain long-term developments in which the state had played a central role.” Such as what happened in the late 1950s when language policy was a divisive issue, ‘bringing the country to the brink of instability’.

India’s Southern States feared that accepting Hindi as the national language would ensure Northern political dominance, narrates the author.

“The compromise forged at Nehru’s behest meant that, while Hindi would remain the national language, it would not be imposed on non-Hindi speaking States. Instead, English would henceforth enjoy the status of the official language.” Section 3 of the Official Languages Act, 1963 is about the continuation of English for official purposes of the Union and for use in Parliament. (For the avid, the site http://rajbhasha.nic.in has more on our language policy.)

According to Kapur, the compromise that enshrined the language of ‘the just departed colonial power’ demonstrated ‘considerable statesmanship on the part of India’s political leadership’.

As a result, over the next few decades, India could develop ‘a large pool of human capital that was versed in the English language, contributing to India’s comparative advantage in software and IT-enabled services…’

Worth a read.

Errors lead to defects, failures

Software delivered but not working as expected. Or, software not working at all. Alas, such examples are common, frets Peter Morgan in the opening chapter of Software Testing edited by Brian Hambling et al ( www.vivagroupindia.com).

“Why is this?” he asks indignantly. And he proceeds to unravel the fix, thus: “There is no single cause that can be rectified to solve the problem, but one important contributing factor is the inadequacy of the testing to which software applications are exposed.”

Morgan goes to the origin of systems, that is, the people who design, and wonders if they make mistakes. “Of course they do. People make mistakes because they are fallible, but there are also many pressures that make mistakes more likely.”

Pressures, which can come in many forms — such as deadlines, complexity, and changing technology — increase the likelihood of ‘errors in specifications, in designs and in software code’. Errors lead to defects, which can, in turn, cause failures.

“If we wish to influence errors with testing we need to begin testing as soon as we begin making errors — right at the beginning of the development process — and we need to continue testing until we are confident that there will be no serious system failures — right at the end of the development process,” insists Morgan.

He reminds that software failures can lead to loss of money and time, and erosion of business reputation. And, in critical cases, injury and death too.

Prescribed study.

Metcalfe and marketing

That the value of a network increases with the square of the number of users is a maxim that Robert Melancton Metcalfe formulated in regard to Ethernet. “Metcalfe’s law explains many of the network effects of communication technologies and networks such as the Internet and World Wide Web,” educates Wikipedia.

Brian Thomas and Matthew Housden cite this law in Direct Marketing in Practice ( www.elsevier.com) to highlight three opportunities for marketers. One, use the Internet as a marketing tool, for “building customer and prospect relationships, lead generation, growing your customer database and son on,” the authors advise.

Two, deploy the Net as a selling tool, through e-commerce, with transactions being conducted online. And opportunity three is to use technology to improve business processes, as follows: “Intranets for improving internal knowledge management and Extranets for more efficient supply chain management, customer service, technical support and e-mail.”

Good guidance.

Action verbs

When you want to market your resume via the Internet, some adaptations to the original document are necessary, say Marshall A. Brown and Annabelle Reitman in Resumes for Professionals ( www.jaicobooks.com).

“First and most importantly, for your resume to rise to the top in electronic sort and retrieval activities, it needs to contain key words and phrases,” they suggest. “Be sure you use key words that are relevant to the position.”

The book has useful appendices, one of which is about ‘action verbs for wok content skills, professional competencies, and transferable skills’.

The words in the ‘information management’ section are: activated, adapted, assimilated, built, composed, computed, created, customised, demonstrated, designed, developed, diagnosed, handled, illustrated, implemented, initiated, installed, inventoried, organised, produced, ran, scheduled, solved, transacted and utilised.

And, those pitching for ‘negotiator’ positions may try these verbs: Amended, arbitrated, averted, bid, conciliated, contracted, closed, ensured, facilitated, forged, formalised, interceded, intervened, litigated, mediated, moderated, prevented, reconciled, represented, resolved and settled.

A book to search for, if you are searching for a good job.

Variable revenue schemes

Significant shifts are happening in how ERP (enterprise resource planning) vendors generate revenues, says Alexis Leon in ERP Demystified, second edition ( www.tatamcgrawhill.com).

“Echoing changes taking place throughout the software industry, the transition is toward recurring and variable revenue models – with maintenance charges driving industry growth.”

To Oracle, for example, revenue from maintenance, adding to about half of the total, ‘has driven some of their acquisitions’.

The SaaS (software as a service) format of revenue has not been working as well for the big players, notes the author. In contrast, variable revenue schemes seem to be a big hit.

“Faced with scarce possibilities for new large licensing deals, vendors have adjusted their pricing models so that they can get incremental licence revenue through higher levels of usage.”

Variable contracts, which are a ‘clever’ strategy on the part of vendors, look for ‘additional payment on the metrics of their customers’ usage. If the customer uses the platform more, he pays more.”

Leon expects SOA (service-oriented architecture) considerations to increase in importance as a factor in ERP purchase decisions. The emphasis will have to be on “creative marketing around product strategies versus buying what’s currently available.

In other words, vendors are making their pitch with a clear subtext — if you want to stay current with the rush toward SOA, you need to be on our platform.”

For the professional’s reference collection.

Life after ‘deleted’

Is inappropriate employee e-mail, computer, and Internet usage really a serious problem?

“Potentially, it can be,” caution Shawn Smith, JD and Rebecca Mazin in The HR Answer Book ( www.phindia.com). Misuse of these electronic tools can create a host of legal problems for an employer, they explain.

Disquietingly for employers, e-mail transmissions are considered ‘documents’ that can be used against an employer in a lawsuit. “In recent court cases, employee e-mail messages have been presented as evidence in claims of discrimination, sexual harassment, and other illegal activities.”

More worryingly, “Even when the user deletes messages, they do not just ‘go away’ but remain in the company’s electronic archives. Deleted messages can be recalled, and an improper message can come back to haunt an employer months or years after the message was first transmitted.”

Too important to ignore.

Tailpiece

“I’m looking for a shredder…”

“Light-duty or heavy?”

“A good one, for my e-mails!”

dmurali@thehindu.co.in

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