Of project leaders and impossible voice response systems

Harsh Realities
(http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20030310/opinion2.shtml)

Different user organisations use different methods to select project leaders for their IT projects. Over a period of time I have studied a number of such organisations and the points they consider while selecting their IT project heads. A systematic study of these has led to identification of certain patterns. I am presenting these here without any favour/malice or recommendations. This is certainly not an exhaustive list. I found the whole exercise very interesting, satisfying and rewarding and I hope you do to. The names of most of these methods are self-explanatory and identification of the underlying logic on why organisations adopt them is a trivial exercise.

The keyboardist: This is a frequently used method. This method prescribes that you select a person who knows to use the keyboard—that is, someone who can type; and if she/he can check e-mail, all the better. The assumption is that a person who knows to use the keyboard would also know computers or quickly pick it up.

The sceptic: This time-hardened man/woman knows the past well and is nearly sure that IT does not offer any solution. The assumption is that if such people can successfully implement the project, all others would soon become ‘converts.’

The agnostic: Does not know either the ‘I’ or the ‘T’ of IT. The assumption is that you can write anything on a clean slate.

Most popular: Of course, if people like the leader they will also help him implement the project well. How can people let such a popular person down?

The conqueror: Has been successful with other types of projects in the past and will certainly succeed in this area too. The assumption is that since the person has tasted success, he would not give up. This group would strongly argue that the World Cup winning cricket team must be sent to represent India in athletics, weightlifting, etc, as well.

Crown prince/princess: This person has been tipped for higher responsibilities in future and surely the higher-ups would all work to ensure that he succeed, else they would also have to re-work the succession plan. The lesser mortals better fall in line if they want a secure future. This method derives logic from the old saying, ‘The King can do no wrong.’
-----
All of us must have used the interactive voice response system (IVRS) at some time or the other. Almost all ‘forward-looking,’ ‘customer-focused’ companies have installed IVRS to take care of their customers. This cutting-edge solution often bleeds the organisation and defeats the very purpose of installing it in the first place. The other day I rang up one of the customer care help lines only to be told that all the executives were busy and the expected hold-time was seven minutes. The voice further added that I could either hold the line or try later. The company had claimed that they had multiple lines on a single number. My need was urgent so I decided to hold the line. Suddenly it dawned on me that I was holding the phone and waiting because the number of executives deployed by the company in that shift was far lesser than the lines provided. I then recalled my experience of having interacted with the IVRS of other organisations and cross-compared those to find that there were a number of other common mistakes made by organisations implementing these solutions.

The other mistake frequently made is multiplicity of options and levels of options. I remember one system where I kept selecting options for over two minutes—seven layers—only to be finally told to wait for the customer-care executive to get free. I strongly advise that voice recognition technology must be used whenever the number of levels goes beyond two.

Once I got quite upset when, during one such conversation with the customer-care executive, I was asked my passport number. I questioned the relevance of the query, as what I had called for was in no way even remotely connected to my passport, my identity, foreign exchange, or anything like that. Unfortunately, all I was repeatedly told was “Yes sir, I understand you, but what is your passport number?” I guess the only people who realise that ‘cold politeness’ is extremely rude are the poor customers themselves.

The IVRS should be designed not only with technology in mind but with a greater degree of human understanding and compassion, so that it serves the purpose for which it is installed and does not instead become the Impossible Voice Response System.
-----
The Information Technology industry is on a very fast track to give shape to a reality far greater than the dream of Lord Macaulay. The projections of different associations and organisations on ITES (IT-enabled services) and BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) revenues have led most state governments to institute special task forces to ensure that they get a fair share of this opportunity. They are implementing schemes for e-educating (English educating) people of their states so as not to let the e-business (Electronic business) slip away. In response, those in love with Indian languages have proposed the opening of an e-crying site so that no one need shed crocodile tears, but can get rid of any guilt by shedding only e-tears.

Who needs an ERP? -part I

As we all understand ERP means Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). It is a single system which contains the data and processes for the various functions of the organization in well integrated manner. ERP has a number of components and modules and often these are implemented module by module. The implementation methodologies of ERP also include the ‘Big Bang’ theory where the whole organization goes live in one go – all modules and all locations. Of course there are number of other methodologies between these two extremes.

Most of these systems started as the Material planning and scheduling or Material Resource Planning packages helping industry/manufacturing units to work out and schedule material and jobs required to meet the production plan. Later these were expanded to cover the other functions – Finance, Marketing, Sales, and Personnel etc. etc.. Subsequently Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems were added on one side, the Customer Relation Management (CRM) systems on the other side and Knowledge Management (KM) systems for capturing knowledge base which resides with the different functions and employees to automate almost all operations and functions of any organization. As is clear from the above it is an enterprise-wide all encompassing (Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, Customer Relations Management, Financials, Manufacturing functions and Warehouse Management functions etc. etc.), well integrated, comprehensive system. By the very definition of ERP all applications/systems that once existed as standalone applications do not continue their independent existence but get merged in ERP system just as the rivers merge into the oceans.

Integration is certainly the key feature of ERP packages. Integration supported by the security system ensures easy yet secure, ‘role based’ access to the different players – employees (workers, office staff, supervisors, management), customers, suppliers etc. etc... It also ensures that the same unified system is approached by all concerned not only for information but also for discharging duties and functional responsibilities. In this system the work-flows are managed so that they smoothly flow from one unit to another or form one level to another level or from one person to another as may be required by the job on hand to ensure that everyone works in harmony – perfect unison. Such a system obviously has advantages and disadvantages:

What does an ERP system do for the organization?

It is difficult to make a comprehensive list and only a few of them are listed below:

• It gives a totally integrated well-knit system;
• It streamlines different processes and gives smooth workflows;
• It makes way for easy, secure and role-based sharing of data and information;
• It improves effectiveness and efficiency;
• It ensures better tracking, forecasting, planning, improved customer service; and
• It eliminates redundant functions and lowers costs
  

Is it really so smooth?

We all know nothing happens easy – like a dream. There are a number of reservations people have about ERP too. Some of them are listed below:

· ‘Not invented here’ syndrome - how can anything work here if it is not home grown? There is always a sufficintly large group, mostly conssting of the current custodians of computers and computers systems and they take introduction of ERP system as an insult believing that the ERP has come because they could not maintain the older systems better or more suited to the internal customer’s needs.

They do not realize that no matter how well you maintain your bullock cart or horse carriage they will be replaced by automobiles, locomotives, ships and aeroplanes and supersonic jets. It has to be appreciated that older systems which were designed to meet the needs of the earlier times cannot meet the needs of the changing times. Those who have read ‘Who moved my Cheese’ will appreciate that this group does not realize that the ‘Cheese’ has moved.

· ERP costs are prohibitive: This is another 'very strong argument' against the ERP systems. However, cost is always matter of perception. There is an old story about an Arab Sheikh –a diamond merchant, who lost his way in the desert. He had run out of his stock of water. At one point he lost all hopes and realized that he cannot do anything but just wait for his end to come. Fortunately his prayers were heard. Another Arab Skeikh, a cloth merchant happened to pass by. He was willing to spare some water for this dying diamond merchant in exchange of one good diamond. Of course the deal was struck and both were happy and went on to their way. Each with a happy story. The cloth merchant was happy that he sold off one pitcher of water costing half a Dinar for one diamond. The diamond merchant was happy that he had to part with only one diamond to save life and not the full collection of diamonds.

Those who think that ERP are expensive and keep flogging the 'legacy systems/home grown systems', make the mistake of not comparing the costs of implementing these systems with the costs of opportunities missed and cost of working at sub-optimal level.

· Customization in many situations is limited: Those who find this as a shortcoming do not realize that this is how the system is designed and it is the strength of the system - 'no one should be allowed to tamper with the system and to puncture it'.

There is a story that once a man, who was used to wearing a ‘Dhoti’, was asked to wear a pant. He wanted the pants to be loose enough so that he could wear a dhoti under the pants. He was to afraid of wearing pants fearing that it might slip down. So as a measure of safety he wanted to wear the ‘dhoti’ underneath. There is perhaps no point in building customizing oversized ‘pants’ to suit the comfort levels of this group. There are a number of such people around us just that the symbols/variables (i.e., 'pants') have changed.

ERP's provide for all the good practices. But it is difficult (in fact impossible) to customize it to work sub-optimally or to adopt a bad/sub-optimal practice.

· It is difficult to reengineer business processes: any change is difficult and change for the better is more difficult. If any process has outlived its live/utility it must be reengineered. ERP offers a God sent an opportunity to do a ‘zero’ based review of all processes.

Is it all or nothing situation?

No it is not that you have to face ‘all or nothing’ situation. It is well accepted fact that the ideal situation is that one ERP system covers the whole organization – all functions, all ‘ranks and files’. However, there is another way available to us. It has been adopted by some of the very large organizations. They have the core ERP system at the heart and over that system they built interface to the external systems which existed in the organization to suit the needs better. Of course this would mean that one has to spend extra time, energy and efforts to fit the components and to make them work in unison.

सब की भाषा हिन्दी

हाल ही में श्री देवाशीश जी की सामयिकी में एक बातचीत छपी - 'सब तक बात पहुंचाने का माध्यम है हिन्दी - लोकप्रिय टीटीएफ फाँट सुशा के जनक हर्ष कुमार से सामयिकी की बातचीत' । इसे अवश्य पढ़ें । पता है - http://www.samayiki.com/2009/01/harsh-kumar-interview

Samayiki is a new Hindi webzine and the new avatar of Hindi blogzine Nirantar
I am very thankful to him and his team.

e-Business

Recently I passed through a village ‘Haat’ (weekly/fortnightly temporary merket) and overheard some craftsmen talking about ‘e-Learning’ and ‘e-Business’. I was very happy and at the same time curious to know what these terms meant to them. A young craftsman explained me that these terms meant “e-Learning means Learning English and e-Business means doing business with people who speak English". He added that these were the absolutely essential requirements for every good crafts-man to make good profits. Is it very difficult to imagine what e-Revolution would bring if the local languages are not promoted on computers?

Open Source Software

My first encounter with the open source software was way back in 1995. I was posted at a training institute and was in-charge of IT. Internet was a very new thing and we had been given the job to set up a site on it and ensure that VSNL like facilities were extended to all the trainees who visited the institute. Time was ASAP ‘if not yesterday’. The head of our institute was a person who really believed in setting very stiff targets. He believed that if you put nine women on the job the baby will get produced in one month.

We checked with the local vendor/companies and IT training institutes to find out who all could help us. We wanted to contact the recognized companies only. The idea was that the companies would have resources/software and technical know-how to set things up. So we contacted the local representatives of the three main companies and engaged all of them and told them to supply the hardware and server duly configured. I was still not sure of meeting the target because the vendors and technical people of the company appeared to be quite ignorant about the different systems, services and protocols. I was very worried and did not want to burst the targets.

One evening as I sat in my room thinking what else we could do, two students of the local university who were doing the final semester project with me walked in. They enquired why I was looking that mush worried. I explained them the issues and told them that I was quite sure that the companies I had engaged would not be able to deliver results as the technical engineers were not quite up to date and lacked knowledge and skills. The students wanted to help but did not know what they could do. So we worked on a different plan and decided to try out the new software called Linux, which one of the IT magazines had given out as a free CD. The students volunteered to work during the night. I told them that the way out was to seek help from the net. We were sure that on the net we would meet a number of people who had traveled on the path we were trying out.

So we installed Linux on a PC and connected the same to the net. Since on local help was available for Linux the only option was to look for it on the net. Their job was to find help on the net and to ensure that the entire range of software was identified, located on the net, downloaded, configured and put in ready to us condition. Late in the evening I left them to find resource people and knowledge gardens on the net. I returned at midnight with some coffee and snacks for them and was very happy to find that they had located quite a few of people who were ready to extend help and do basic hand holding. Sure enough by morning we had all the software we needed duly configured and ready to use.

We realized that there were a very large number of resource people who were available on the net round the clock and were ready to guide and to help you. These groups exchanged information freely and very quickly expand the knowledge base and the general knowledge set of the members. The members of this group get recognized because of their knowledge and competency and therefore they are for ever ready to share it with other. A natural by product of this interaction is that information is exchanged/shared freely and speedily. These groups have proved the old Sanskrit saying-‘knowledge increases by sharing and reduces by hoarding’.

In the end we were very happy for we had solved the problem overnight and found these groups which freely and openly discussed issues and helped the newcomers. It was wrong on our part to think that only the companies which had local representatives were in the best position to offer help and that there would not be any support for the software not owned by the big companies. In fact one does not require presence of any local person as long as virtual presence can be ensured. There is one more saying which is very true for such software which means what is owned by community is protected by the GOD.

Ensuring Safety on Blue Line Bus Service

Making Blue Line Bus Service of Delhi Transport System a safe one.

A few years time back I used write a regular column called ‘Harsh Realities’ for Computer Express. It was a very good and satisfying experience. I used to write about wish list of a user/common person. Some times I wrote about what was technically possible but where no one was offering a solution in the market. Sometimes I wrote about the dreams of solutions which would make life simpler, easier and better. Sure enough, over the years almost all those dreams have come true. This has encouraged me to write again. Here we will discuss what is technically possible but not available as a commercial solution or a solutions are available but they have not caught on. All suggestion, ideas, and wish lists from the readers are also welcome. Please mail me.

Those who are in touch with the news in Delhi regularly get shocks because the Blue line busses of the city transport system regularly keep killing people. They read tragic new almost every day. There are people who argue that there are about 1.4 crore people in Delhi and if one or two die everyday then statistically it is an insignificant number. However, you can certainly say that the person quoting such statistics has not lost any near or dear one is such road tragedy. When we talk of accidental deaths we cannot talk of statistics but have to think of the individuals who are lost in these avoidable tragedies and their families. People in Delhi have often clamored to take all these buses off the road. Some time back these buses were also taken off the road for a short while. But that led to another problem because then the people could not go to offices for work. Can technology assist in solving this problem? The answer is –Yes, a simple solution is available. Let us see how.

The drivers of these busses know that there is no system to monitor and correctly and accurately record their performance when they are controlling the steering wheel. The solution to put inspectors all along the routes to monitor them is too expensive. They even run away from the site after the accident and sometimes the buses cannot be traced. So if we have a system which constantly and accurately records what they do, the problem will be under control to a great extent. These recordings could be used for action replay when needed (location of the bus at time and place of accident etc.) or for generating exception reports (over speeding, rash driving, not stopping at the bus stand etc.) and counseling/training the driver so that he improves his driving skills/habits. In other words these could be used for policing, punishments and rewards system and also for improving the driving skills of the driver.

Let us put a GPS device on all the buses. This device will accurately and constantly beam the location and speed of the bus to the central server. It will also record time and location where the bus came to a halt. These points will be matched by the computer with the latitudes and longitudes of the bus route and the schedule halts of the bus. The exception statement generated from the system will tell us bus-stops where the driver did not stop the bus or stopped much ahead/short of the bus stop or if he deviated form his route etc. etc. This information will flow to the supervisors of the transport company who will be under obligation to counsel the driver and to take action against the incorrigible ones. The bad cases will also be with the police for imposing penalties, fines and for taking other legal actions. The transport companies and school authorities will be under obligation to review the exception reports and to take prompt appropriate action. This will take care of the problems to a great extent.

It is also possible to develop a special ‘Black Box’ for buses/trucks which will record the acts of the driver accurately and which will be temper proof somewhat on the lines of the airlines ‘Black Box’. This will even record where and when the driver changed the gear, the speed at that time, sharpness of the turn made by the diver, speed at the road crossing etc. etc. Recording these details and monitoring them will further improve the driving /skills of the driver. The main beneficiary of this system will be the transport company providing the bus because improvement in the driving skills and habits of the driver will result in less wear and tear of the busses and it will also improve life of the buses and thereby increasing the Return on Investment (ROI).

Let us now discuss the cost of the device and solution.

The cost of device to be put on the buses will cost about Rs. 10,000/- or so and application at the central server will cost about Rs. 50 lakhs to Rs. 1 crore depending on the number of the vehicles to be monitored and response time etc. We will also have to prepare GIS maps of the road system in the city. The cost of the device on bus will be born by the transport company. There would be a number of companies which will be willing to put in their money on PPP model for the system at the central server end. A part of the cost could be recovered form the advertising revenues and the balance will have to be borne by the transport companies providing the buses. Certainly they must pay the residual cost of the service because their buses get monitored. They would be willing to pay as they are the ones who are ultimately responsible (vicarious liability) for the acts of their drivers and have to bear the legal etc. costs of the deeds/misdeeds of the drivers.

(Written in 2007)

IT and Music

I am sure readers will agree that we all grudgingly allow the Music companies to overcharge us. Most often we like only one or two songs in a CD but pay for all the songs which are on the CD. None of us complains because no one else is complaining.

The problem is due to a mismatch between what we want to buy and what the music industry offers. We like songs and want to buy songs but the Music companies only sell CDs. They do not sell ‘songs’, the smallest, complete and ‘stand-alone’ unit of the music CD. There is a technology issue involved here.

The music companies have not changed their way of thinking in step with the advancements in technology. They live with the new technology thinking that they still have the constraints of the old technology. In the old technology the cost of production of a single record was high and process elaborate. It was, therefore, nearly impossible to ‘tailor-make’ records to suit the tastes of the individual customers in a cost effective manner. However, the current technology (IT) can deliver systems where customer selects songs and then orders a CD and music company produces these ‘tailor-made’ CDs in a cost effective manner for the cost remains more or less independent of the lot size.

Toady automobile manufacturers offer customized cars to us and considering complexities of their systems, making customized CDs is a ‘kids play’. In fact most kids today believe in cutting their own CDs after taking songs from a number of different CDs. They burn the CD directly or after converting them into MP3 format. Is it not strange that the music companies do not think that this market is large enough for them to enter in? Unfortunately, the old fashioned law abiding people will have to wait, till music companies take cognizance of their needs before they can enjoy what the kids round the block are having fun with.

I hope someone/some group takes on the music companies for thrusting goods/songs on us and charging us for them. Imagine if you went out to have food at a hotel and they charged you for the dishes you did not order/eat but were served to you because they were cooked in the same kitchen. I am sure all of us will cry foul. I wonder if this is the reason why the hotel industry has a ‘buffet’ system. I am talking about introduction of ‘buffet’ system in the music industry. I do hope and pray that soon we are allowed to buy only the ‘songs’ we like and are not forced to buy CDs offered by the industry.

(Written in 2001)

IT in Education

As we all know IT has changed the way we do business with the banks or the way we operate in the Capital Market. It has also changed the way people buy and sell goods- Air and Railway Tickets, etc. It has, however, not made much difference where it should have made the maximum difference and where it has tremendous potential to make a difference for the better. I would not have realized it had I not visited a university college recently. I found the good old ‘chalk and talk’ still at work there.

The good old Pareto’s Law operates in the Universities and Colleges also. Only about 20% of the teachers are good and impart ‘Knowledge’. The less said about the rest the better. However, there is a physical constraint of space restricts the number of people who can attend conventional lectures. IT can remove this constraint by creating virtual class rooms with practically unlimited space and thereby allowing a much larger number of students to interact with the professors – online, off-line, Audio, Video etc. etc.

IT can help the colleges to get out of the islands like existence in which they currently live. The ‘net’ can increase the reach and impact of the good professors. A good professor in one college can, besides teaching students on the net, reach a large number of lecturers in other colleges and help them. The net could also be used to conduct tuitions for school children and classes for working people. Informal enquiries with friends and colleagues reveal that there is a sizeable market for this.

However, while the technology can offer solutions, I am not sure if the teachers in our universities and colleges are ready for induction of IT into their domain as yet. If inducted, IT can completely change their way education is imparted and the nature of teachers’ job- a few will conduct lectures and the rest will conduct tutorials and help the students with the problems.

We will need considerable amount of ‘Change Management’ skills for giving shape to this dream. But talking about the ‘Psychology, Organization Politics and Science of Change Management’, a subject by itself, will require more space and time and will be taken it up later.

(written in 2002)

Knowledge Management

It is very difficult to say whether the buzz word ‘Knowledge Management’ is at the peak of the wave or it has crossed the peak. This is one of the most frequently used term by most of the IT professionals, consultants, vendors and companies. However, each one of them understands it a bit differently from the other but it is certain that most of them have a very definite view on it. On one extreme we have people who think that ‘data, information, knowledge’ are all the same and as long as one had the raw data with him one could cull out knowledge. I have recently attended a seminar where this view was propounded by the chief gust and supported & furthered by the lead faculty. On the other extreme, as elaborated in the next paragraph, we have people who think that knowledge is something that exists in a clearly definable frame and can easily be identified by the ‘Gurus’ in the consulting firm, vendor, or the organization seeking the solution and made available to everyone so that they could access it as and when they needed and apply it. I suppose most of us will see that both these extreme views are not correct if we are to look for practical solutions. I am sure that I am not alone in this thinking and that there are a number of others like me who would vouch for the fact that the situations in the real world require a very different approach..

Other day I met one ‘KM Professional’, believe me that there are a number of people who are totally convinced that they belong to this elite group. He mentioned what I had read many years earlier about science - what you cannot quantify and define does not exist. I think that the thinking in the physical science too has changed but the world had not changed much for this professional. He said that if you cannot clearly identify and speak what is knowledge then “you do not have it and you do not know it”. I wanted to tell him bluntly that the world was not that simple and wanted to point to him the blinkers he had put on for he did not recognize ‘tacit’ knowledge at all. However, I adopted a softer approach and tried to explain him the problems with his line of thinking. Despite my best efforts I failed to help him identify the blinkers. I did not want to give up so I suggested to him that once he reached home he must try and cook any recipe after reading the cookbook, a ‘repository of knowledge’.

As I have mentioned above, in a working environment most professionals will tell you that knowledge is not what is confined in the books, manuals, reports and data. It is spread across the organization and is with a number of working people who may or may not be able to sit and write down all they thought was knowledge. However, given a situation they could clearly identify knowledge and how and from where to acquire it and how to apply to the situation to get the desired results. Anyone attempting a solution to KM in real world must understand the this and accept that knowledge is often, identified, acquired, assimilated and applied in a very different manner altogether than the assumptions made in the ‘Guru’ approach.

Unfortunately, the professional I had referred to above is not alone and most of the vendors/consultants who offer Knowledge Management solutions assume that a small group in the organization will know what knowledge is and their job would only be to digitize it and keep it in a manner so that it can be accessed by the users in a secure and convenient way. I call it the ‘Guru Approach’. They do not realize that what they are offering is not a solution for Knowledge Management but just an Information Management System. For those who have forgotten, the Information Management Systems, take inputs from both internal and external Systems and information coming from Business Transaction, called Management Information System (MIS) is only one subset of information coming from internal sources.

The solution offered is often a variant of an efficient library management system only. The attempts of most of the companies operating in this space fall far short of the need. They will have to offer efficient system to capture the working systems in the computers and ensure that the knowledge is captured from the normal working only quite like it happens in the real life. This will then have to be offered in the context of the work so that it is taken cognizance of and applied for advantage. The attempts of most of the companies offering to provide KM solutions can be summed up as attempts to ‘sell old wine in old bottles through the same old salesman using new jargon’.