Bingoblogin

Maximum profits with minimal investments

 Software domain is abuzz with the concept of Outsourcing. It is in fact a meagerly understood yet most utilized business phenomenon today. Outsourcing has multiple advantages for an organization. The concept of outsourcing software projects helps an organization to focus on its core business objectives while getting beneficial services rendered by the people sitting seven seas away.

Outsourcing..a major business phenomena

Even in this fluctuating economic scenario, outsourcing is a viable alternative for any organization in the West to be successful. It ranks high among the list of rapidly evolving business sectors in many developing nations such as India, Japan, China etc. These countries have emerged as IT outsourcing hub over the last 10 years. Not only has outsourcing enabled these countries to establish decent outsourcing relationships with West world, but also good returns.

Today, every organization in software domain feels the pressure of handling countless business objectives. Outsourcing emerges as a savior in such circumstances. This concept helps such organization to focus on their core business targets and also offers a wide range of benefits to them.

Let us take a tour of some of the benefit of software outsourcing:

•  Area of requirements: Outsourcing enables clear communication between the buyer and service provider. As a result, proper requirements document will be provided to the vendor and he can make use of the available tools for analyzing and executing the project accordingly.
• Area of visibility: Outsourcing rescues project sponsors from relying solely on project managers about the status of completion of the project thereby protecting them from the potential danger of excessive cost and schedule overruns. Outsourcing prompts vendors for providing the buyer with quantitative visibility of the project.
• Reduction in overheads and capital expenditure: Outsourcing reduces the number of overheads along with a remarkable decrease in the investment of capital as you get access to cheap labor and resources.
• No investment in fixed infrastructure: As you outsource your software project to your provider sitting miles away, you do not need to spend any money on getting your infrastructure ready.
• Resource investment on critical projects: Organizations have number of projects to handle. On outsourcing some of the software projects, you will be able to focus on some mission-critical projects.
• Improvement in service and speed: Outsourcing facilitates regular monitoring of the project thereby lending the required momentum to the project being handled.
• Accessibility to specialized skill set: With outsourcing, you get easy access to desired skill set at cheap rates. So that way you would be able to save considerable amount of money and yet get the desired expertise for the software project that you outsource.
• Increased customer satisfaction: Since the project will be outsourced using the best of resources and skill set, the final deliverable will be matching your expectations. Hence, customer satisfaction is given great importance in outsourcing.

Having familiarized yourself with the bright side of outsourcing, get started with it right away! Outsourcing will not only reduce your work pressure and allow you to concentrate on more important business tasks, but also help you lots of money and energy.

The destination for our team-building trip had been decided. I was told that we’d be going to a place called Chakrata, somewhere near Tiger Falls. Since I was clueless about this place, I took the help of Internet to quench my inquisitiveness. Clicking on the links, I got to see some visually enticing pictures of green hills, clouds, river, steep slopes etc. All this was enough to raise my excitement level to explore the place.

Finally, the day came when we had to go this unheard (by me) place. We left at night. After a hectic day at office, all the team members were quite exhausted but still managed to stay awake since we get a rare opportunity to gel with each other like this in our day-to –day office schedule. However, there were some people dozing like the one below.
 
With the first light of the morning, we found ourselves in Dehradun. The bus then proceeded towards Vikas Nagar, a Cantonment area. We were confused about the way ahead so took the help of local people to trace our way to Chakrata. Again we started and in an hour’s time or so, we could find our bus climbing difficult terrains.

Since I am an acrophobic (suffer from fear of heights), I could feel adrenaline pump and was damn scared to look into those deep gorges and valleys. My peer was pacifying me and constantly encouraged me to have a look at the beautiful sceneries but every effort of her and other colleagues failed. Not only me but there were other few, who were constantly taking the names of their revered deities and praying for our safe landing. 
 
At around 9:30 am, we found that Chakrata was left behind and still were moving up and up. Our HR peer told us that there’s a camp in Virat Khai, where we’d be staying for next 3 days. We all were then scared and out of our wits. Finally, we reached our destination at 10:00 am. After 10-hour journey, we all were tired but still relaxed that our lives were saved.
 
Our trainer, Mr. Amarjeet Singh, welcomed us and instructed us to get ready in an hour. We were taken to our respective tents and we were extremely delighted to see the endless valley, steep mountains, towering pine & deodar tress. That was such a serene view for all of us.
 
We got ready, had our breakfast and then played a team-building game. It was a learning experience. After lunch, we went straight to see Draupadi’s well, situated on the hill top. We had to climb that mountain. Most of us were in jeans, sport shoes etc. I don’t know how but it can be sheer blessings of God that motivated us all to climb such great heights and reach the apex. To our surprise, we all felt rejuvenated. The experience was heavenly.   
 
We came back and then had a lovely evening where we all gathered, sang songs, chilled and then took dinner together. After a hectic day, we went straight to our camps and went off to sleep.

The next day had nothing much for us as the rains had drenched our plans of trekking and other adventurous activities. So we had to play all indoor team building games but that was again a rewarding experience. However, we were shivering with the cold winds and low mercury levels caused due to heavy rains. Some of us had enough clothes to resist the temperature and strong winds but some were poor victims as they had not paid heed to the instruction of carrying woollens along.
 
Next day was our last day at the camp. So we had already packed our stuff, thanked the trainer and other staff for taking good care of us in the camps and left for the bank of Yamuna to try some adventurous river sports.

 Reaching there, I learned that we were supposed to perform the stunts, which we love Akshay Kumar doing in Bollywood movies. The trainer told that it’s known as ‘bridge slithering’. I preferred to be the witness of the daredevil stunts and not one of those doing it. May be I didn’t get a chance earlier to overcome my fears but I was feeling damn scared of both height as well as water. So many colleagues even the trainer failed to convince me to do slithering but it was my ultimate Boss, whose expressions motivated or rather the fear that I have of him that I was ready to take a plunge into that death well.
 
Taking the name of my parents and all my near and dear ones, I was ready with all safety equipments to do slithering. My boss was there to encourage me, I looked at his face and in a second’s time, I was suspended in mid-air and in next second, taking the help of trainer to get out of the water. That day, I realized what great influence my boss has on me.
 
After this enthralling and memorable experience of my life, I was splashing water at my colleagues. It was fun time and enjoyed to the fullest extent. Then the next activity was river crossing. We were segregated into different teams and given life jackets, helmets and harnesses. My team had all bulky people of the team so I was damn sure to get drowned. But kudos to my team members, who took me safe through the fast currents of Yamuna. Cheers to our team effort!
 
This has been the most unforgettable day of my life, I can say with thorough conviction as I have gotten over my fear of height and water due to my Boss’ and colleagues’ help. Thanks to all of them! The trip was over and we left for Delhi. We came back refreshed and reunited.

Whatta trip!

Bhagat Singh, a golden name in the history of Indian struggle for Independence, may have been called a militant revolutionary by the so-called peace lovers of our civilized society. However, there are still many like me who feel that we owe our Independence to the supreme sacrifices made by Bhagat Singh and many other valiant sons of Mother India.

Bhagat Singh: the true son of India

Congress had been struggling for even Dominion Status for more than 100 years; what to talk about ‘Total Independence’ or ‘Poorna Swaraj’.  How can one forget this man, who gave up all the luxuries of his life for serving the nation.

Here’s another blog that I came across on the Internet by another Bhagat Singh’s admirer like me. Have a look at this:

http://tinyurl.com/mkou9s

Summary: Social media marketing is a pack of e-marketing techniques that uses the power of social media to promote your online business. This efficient and effective strategy will help you establish links and drive in heavy web traffic to your website. In other words, social media marketing lays the foundation of strong brand image by helping you market your products and services on varied online social media venues. 

‘Social Media Marketing’ that gained entry into the business world(web)  a few years back has made the use of web even more popular among the marketers. It is a marketing method in which the promoters of a brand are not necessarily the employee of the company. Social media actually helps to get products or services endorsed by the users or the target audience.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing has two important aspects. The first, Social Media Optimization, which refers to on-page strategies through which a webmaster can improve a website for the age of social media. Such optimization includes adding links to services such as Digg, Reddit and Del.icio.us so that their pages can be easily saved and submitted.

Second is having an account with these social networking websites and consistently participate in the various activities talking place at these sites.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Web 2.0 is an application that enables community members to talk, share, participate and bookmark online thereby encouraging open discussions, creating blogs, posting articles and videos on YouTube, voting, knowledge sharing and feedbacks.

With Web 2.0 marketing, you no longer depend solely on costly electronic or print media for setting a stage for powerful marketing campaign to entice a large number of people. Using Web 2.0, now even the average users can learn the marketing strategies and get real business prospects thereby opening multiple revenue channels for themselves.

Web 2.0 marketing has given rise to Social Media Marketing. It is a collection of online techniques that facilitates advertising or promotion through socializing. Unlike conventional media which promotes unidirectional broadcast, social media marketing is bidirectional and promotes effective communication between you and your prospects.

To put it in simple words, social media marketing weaves your content effectively into the social web by helping you connect with your target audience as friends and communicate with them in real time so that you can respond to them accordingly. In fact, it is a potential method that will give your business triumphant online presence and make your website reap great profits over a period of time.

Why consider Social Media Marketing?

• It creates online buzz for your brand: It sets a viral effect leading to the word-of-mouth popularity of your product or services by the user itself.
• It increases brand visibility: Very soon you can make your brands popular among your target audience because of the viral effect created through social networking sites. These viral processes can be word of mouth or may be in the form of audio-video clips, Flash games, ebooks, softwares, images etc.
• It helps in building credibility: When the users of a product are recommending the same, it adds credibility as there is no marketing of self interest underlying in doing so. It is mere brand loyalty in the mind that prompts users to spread the brand message.
• It is cost effective: This method of marketing on web till now is considered as one of the most cost-effective method of marketing as you can easily spread your message for very low cost. Most of the social networking websites allow you to freely create your account and start posting your messages.
• It enables focused marketing: The messages you are spreading for your brand can be highly controlled, as you can post messages for particular community. For example, if you are looking to promote a website that sells book, you can easily find 100s of book communities and use these communities to spread your brand message.
• It boosts website traffic: Since a large number of people hang around these social networking sites, the chances of your products getting exposed to this traffic are also very high. Social Media Optimization can significantly boost your website traffic overnight.
• It lends share and gain marketing insights: It helps you consistently evolve as an intelligent marketer. You learn from the efforts by other SMO professionals, when you interact online, to promote a product. You experiment with some of the good methods for your product and it helps you evolve consistently. You position your product effectively without paying exorbitant fees to marketing consultants.

With this information, you are all set to take a plunge into the world of social media marketing. All the Best!

Kasab's trial to go on!!

The major accused in Mumbai’s 26/11 terror attack, Mohammad Ajmal Amir ‘Kasab’, confessed his active role in the attack. His statement has been recorded and the Special Sessions Court passed its verdict that the trial would go on despite his confession and that the statement would be appropriately made use of at the right time in the case.

Judge M.L. Tahaliyani said: “At the outset, let me state that I am not inclined to accept the statement and pronounce judgment. It is a partial admission of charges. It may amount to admission of guilt to certain offences. He has not admitted to a lot many charges.” 

Kasab has been framed with 86 charges against him and in six charges he has been specifically charged under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC. However, the court refuted Ujjwal Nikam’s (Special Public Prosecutor) plea of recording of Ajmal’s confessions under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Also, everyone was taken by surprise when Mr. Kazmi declared that he wished to withdraw from the case as his client, Kasa, is not cooperating & confiding him. However, Kasab refused to accept this allegation and the judge ordered both Kasab & Kazmi to resolve their differences.

Sach Ka Saamna under political scrutiny

There is a lot of buzz about the reality TV show ‘Sach Ka Saamna’ bring aired on Star Plus. The TRPs of the show have been amazing so far. However, the heated debate in Parliament about the format of the show has led to the scrutiny of this show.

On the other hand, Star Plus has maintained a dignified silence over the whole controversy. A big question on the content of the show was raised by MP Kamal Akhtar in the Upper House of the Parliament and gave the reason that any show that probes directly into someone else’s bedroom and private life is against Indian culture and won’t be accepted at all.

After a heated argument over this show, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a notice to Star Plus under Cable TV Network Act of 1995, and the channel needs to respond to this notice by Monday.
Siddhartha Basu, the producer of the show, refused to comment on the controversy and the notice issued. Rather he declared that he has full faith in the institution and that he’d abide by the law.

Ambika Soni, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, has called Indian Broadcasting Federation and News Broadcasters Association for a meeting to discuss the entire matter.

Both India and U.S. have agreed on the issue that global climate change is a major cause of concern for the entire world. The two countries also agreed that energy security and climate change are tow interlinked environmental challenges.

Climate Change due to Global Warming

India as well as U.S. registered on the common themes such as that immediate action needs to be taken to control global climate change otherwise drastic temperature fluctuations are most likely to hamper several developmental projects of the developing nations. However, technology would play its significant role in facing these environmental challenges.

The delegates of both the nations had a long discussion about financial resources and mitigation measures that need to be resorted to for combating any environmental danger.

Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Mr. Stem (of U.S.) about India’s current stand on Environmental Protection and Conservation.

NASA has set it as one of its future goals to send a human exploration to Mars. The organization sees it as one of the great possibilities to enable man put his foot on another planet and the voyage to Mars would take the crew reach there in 6 months.

NASA planning to explore Mars

Bret Drake, NASA researcher with Lunar and Mars Integration at Johnson Space Center in Houston, unleashed his opinion that human exploration of Mars is a big challenge for the scientists & astronauts across the globe until now.
However, NASA has made two different Project Execution plans (a) a nuclear thermal rocket and (b) chemical engine. There would be countless mental and physical challenges involved in this as the crew would have to stay there in such lethal environment for more than 2.5 years.

Let’s wait & watch out for NASA’s next move on Mars exploration!

The current financial crisis has severely affected the economies of developing as well as developed countries. Eventually, the global scenario is abuzz with the concept of outsourcing and offshoring. Everyone from employer to employee wants to jump on the bandwagon for fighting and winning over this financial tsunami by adopting varied policies for cost cutting.

Fight back recession now!

Small medium businesses (SMBs) are also facing tough times. Have a look at some of the steps that SMBs can take to put up a tough resistance against current recession:

• Identify your customers: Simply remember the golden rule that “Customer retention is more profitable than customer acquisition”. Hence, figure out your actual customer base and put in your best possible effort to make them happy with your quality-backed services as according to a rough estimate, 80% of your business runs with the support of 20% of your entire clientele.
• Formulate a standard outreach plan: Interact and communicate effectively with your current and potential customers. Give them more and more information about your products and services through phone calls, handwritten notes, email letters, regular online updates etc. Give them an idea that you have the strength to win over the tough times.
• Find out ways to gain control over recession-related problems: The current tough economy has paved way for some opportunities. SMBs can brainstorm and find ways to adjust their workflows in such a way so as to reap maximum benefits out of such revenue-generating opportunities.
• Broaden your horizon of target markets: The ongoing economic downturn has hit different industries to varied extents. Challenge your creativity and diversify your reach to varied industry types. Keep all your options open and take an innovative approach.
• Make use of smart services: Earlier recruitment agencies and headhunters used to cost too much to SMBs by charging 10-40% of the newly hired employee’s salary. But with Internet penetration at its boom, many freelance websites have emerged to help small medium businesses (SMBs) as well as skilled freelancers. It would be an intelligent move to make use of any such freelance website as it would preferably meet varied business objectives without hitting your pocket.

  A number of freelance websites offer secure and reliable services to businesses across varied verticals such as web development, software development, graphic arts & design, writing & translation, networking & informations etc. The SMBs/SMEs can post their job requirements along with their specifications, and invite freelancers to bid on such job postings directly. Also, these business-networking platforms assure SMBs of the skills of freelancers by making service providers go through its grueling online skill certification tests.

• Use smart softwares: To cut down on the costs, only free services would not suffice. You will have to try many more options such as free softwares, fewer servers etc. Softwares such as Virtualization, Parallels etc provide the cost-saving advantages such as consolidation of servers and reduction in backup and recovery time. This contributes remarkably in lessening the electricity bill leading to saving considerable amount of money. Opt for software solutions like Parallels that runs on Windows and Linux hosts besides Macs and offers extremely affordable automation virtualization packages

So break those conventional cardinal rules and maintain your online presence in business world by fighting your way out of recession!