The Yaxis Live by Rajesh Kumar

The Washington Post suffered it. Amit Agarwal talks about it. Rishi Raj laments it. Mani Karthik says he does not care. A zillion posts are already up on Google’s recent PageRank update.
After

While the web is full of commentary on Google’s recent PageRank update, here’s some food for thought. We compared the PageRank of some of the leading IT Companies corporate websites in June and October. It is quite puzzling that Infosys.com and Accenture.com suffered a PR drop by one notch from 8 & 9 respectively to 7 & 8 now. In the same timeframe, TCS.com has gone up one level from 7 to 8 level. It is also notable that in the same period the Google reported inbound link to Infosys.com has dropped, which is quite mystifying.

When one compares the Google reported backlink figures among the top names in IT industry, IBM has seen its backlink numbers jump from a high figure of 62,100 to astounding 1,11,000 which perhaps explains its PR 9, before and after.

Most people have speculated that the PR update has affected those sites that have sold text link ads without the nofollow attribute, but that would not apply to Infosys.com and Accenture.com, and perhaps, there are other, less understood factors as well.

As someone said, “my mom will continue to type www.washingtonpost.com to read the news, no matter what PR they have”. Well said, that is the habit based consumption, however if conventional wisdom is to be believed, organizations selling services would see their traffic drop in due course.

While there are a zillion sites in the social networking genre and hundreds spring up by the week, Bibliophiles would love this social networking site called Shelfari.

This is a space to find out what is being read by others on different subjects, what’s really hot in terms of the latest bestsellers and to discover what others are saying on books you have read or plan to read.

An absolutely delightful sight that lets you discover and discuss books with book lovers worldwide. You can also build your ‘to read’ list based on reviews by others, as well as join(or form) a community around a specific subject or them. Click here or the image below for my virtual bookshelf.

Sukumar has done a post on a lecture by Dan Tapscott who has authored Wikinomics ( The full title is Wikinomics- How mass collaboration changes everything ) with Anthony Williams. Actually this book has been in my to read list for almost a year and it is only now that I have been able to lay my hands on a copy – thanks to Odyssey. One of my old agonies with bookstores in India is that they don’t get books till it is branded as a success in the western world. Somehow, in this respect, the world is not flat yet!

Though I am just forty pages deep into it and hope to post again once I am done reading, I remain quite convinced on how IT enabled mass collaboration is changing the world as we know it- come on, we knew it even before we started reading this book – Wikinomics appears to give our own thoughts that much more backbone of reasoning to make it more believable.(In the below Video, Dan talks at Google on the thoughts that make Wikinomics).

I shall be back once I am done reading, but meanwhile, would love to read comments from others who have read Wikinomics. And to those who do not read books too often, high time you took a break and bought this one.

Buying behaviour can be crazy and difficult to comprehend.Look at this one.The fat lady was uttering frighteningly within my earshot,” This Patiala wasn’t good. I want a larger one“. The guy serving her was stunned, and all he could mumble was,”This was the best we have sold. We will see how we can make it better”. Then he vanished behind the counter only to return after five minutes with another stack of salwar suits- yes, you guessed it, yet more Patialas.

Till I went to shop with my wife this Dussehra, I erroneously believed that large Patialas represent a serving of a certain type of liquid, which only the connoisseurs could partake in the company of their best friends. Neither did I know how happy a shopping experience could be, for a husband, when the wife is busy buying dresses. I never knew ladies stores have become so advanced, that they have figured out the need and the mantra to keep the man happily engaged, while the wife keeps on telling the shop attendants, “Not this one, show me something better”. Till they figure out that something better.

In my house, the keyword ‘Shopping’ is reserved only for occasions when my wife has to buy dresses. When the dresses in question happen to be mine, the terminology is ‘pick up’. Like this one, “Can you please pick your trousers in the evening while returning home?”. The semantic purely represents the time spent in stepping in and out, since it is only a few minutes between my entry, purchase, billing and exit. It takes a cube ( 6X6X6 =216 minutes or 3 hour and 36 minutes) of that time when my wife steps into the shop. I also remain quite curious, why after 3 hour and 36 minutes my wife is unable to find a single dress to her liking(they don’t have anything), when in six minutes flat, I generally succeed in buying a pair. But as I may point out, if all things were known, the Nobel committee would not be able to award discoveries year after year.

Back to this Dussehra shopping.

So there are nice chairs for folks like me to sit, and a flat panel TV nailed to the wall, which is tuned to a sports channel running cricket reruns of India’s Twenty20 World Cup win. Wow, what a treat. And by the way, what a neat arrangement for the shop, both the man and the wife remain busy with their favourite past times and the shop cash register keeps running. Some understanding of buying behaviour these guys have. And as you would appreciate, it is evolving. Perhaps next time when I come here, their would be a bank of computers, connected to high speed internet, free to use for those who came with a wife . A computer and mobile accessories shop in a corner of the same floor would be an awesome value add. And if there are car salesmen showing off the latest launches and offering trials, it would be a complete shopping experience. Call this area Husband Pen if you like. Call it whatever.

Somehow I felt this time around, my wife’s shopping got over too soon. I am trying to make it better for myself by giving a surprise to my wife. Yes, I am going to give a surprise of her life to my wife soon by asking, “Shall we go shopping for Diwali?”

Voice & Data reports that a furniture store in South Africa till recently used to lock up its employees in the workshop so that they focus on their work. Nothing too much till you realize that the workshop did not have appropriate rest room facilities so when the workers needed to go to the rest room, they had to send in their p-petition to their managers via SMS, who would come and unlock them. That gives rise to the horrendous possibilities:

1. Imagine worker X ‘s phone has weak network coverage.
2. Worker Y ran of his phone’s pre-paid charge, now how does he discharge?
3. S’pose worker Z’s phone battery drains out – now how will he!

However, all this will pale, if you think the possibilities if the manager’s phone suffers from any of the above. What a blast.

PS: The govt moved in to stop this, naturally.

Dr Jagdish Sheth, renowned thought leader was at Madras Management Association on 15th Oct and as a member I had the privilege of attending his talk, which I can describe as simple and mind boggling. Dr Sheth spoke on Seven Self Destructive Habits of Good Companies which is published as a book. Dr Sheth pointed out at the beginning of his presentation that a third of the companies listed in Fortune 500 in 1970 had vanished by 1983!

Dr Sheth spoke about the seven habits as:

1. Denial (of realities)
2. Arrogance (Often success breeds this)
3. Complacency (When companies have tasted the fruits of success and don’t feel the need to better themselves)
4. Competence Dependence (When they have something they have identified as a core skill which seem to have worked for them – the requirement for the skill may get washed out due to disruptive change, maybe technology led)
5. Competitive myopia (Identifying your competition incorrectly and then refusing to see the truth)
6. Volume obsession ( “Let’s give this freebie so that we retain this customer or else..”)
7. Turf wars ( Organizational behaviour)

The talk was compelling enough for me to buy a copy of the above book, which I discovered in the course of my reading, is full of examples of giants who continue to be giants, or those who have fallen by the wayside.

A nice session and the book sounds promising too. However, I have a word of caution on the book. Do not consider this as a pass through book. You would feel the need to reflect and think after every few pages, maybe even try to relate to what you have read earlier, and even Google about some corporate history.

Thanks Dr Sheth!

(PS: Dr Sheth, in response to an answer to an audience question, said that if there were an eighth habit he had to mention, he would say talent plateauing is that eighth organizational habit. Essentially, companies do not want to experiment by giving their employees the chance to work in newer areas, but to retain them in an area in which they have demonstratively performed in the past)

This is my 100th post. It has taken me 2 years to reach to this milestone. I started blogging as an item to satisfy my curiosity (Let me be honest -my mean interest was to get a Gmail account – I had heard they were offering Gmail accounts to select bloggers with 1 GM space. My hope was to be one of them. I did not get a Gmail account this way but got sort of fascinated by this media). And by the way another blogger obliged me by sending a Gmail invite.

Interestingly, this is not my first experiment with web content.Way back in 1999 I had created a website which though not updated since 2000, to my utter surprise, still exists and can be accessed. I don’t have the password to the update the contents to have to let it R.I.P.

In two years of blogging, my blogposts have wandered from what’s happening in Chennai (the city I live in), business books that I liked, to marketing, and even an occasional bit of technology. The posts that have got me the highest visitor response have been those on former President of India, yes you guessed it, Dr A.P.J Kalam. Those on cricket have caused good number of foot falls too. Of late I have attempted humour too. In short the only ‘unifying theme’ I could think of describing my blog as having is variety.

When I started blogging, I had the easy choice of taking the route that several others have taken, that is, to start reacting to daily happenings with three to four posts per day- or wait for something to really provoke me into writing. I choose the later, trying to balance time from work, a kid daughter who really needs my time, and my wife, who is a PhD researcher in Biotechnology and a perfectionist. Hence the title of this post- More is not always beautiful.

My blogging journey continues unabated and I thank all readers for bearing with my shameless, opinionated views! I shall carry on, with your due permission!!

(Of late I have been receiving incessant emails from ‘children’ and ‘widows’ of former presidents of some countries in other geographies, who require my business advice, acumen and assistance in salvaging the treasure which the late dictator bequeathed upon them..My response to them, once and for all , is below)

Dear Great Grandson of Dr Laboomba,

I am in receipt of your email dated 6th October containing the urgent and confidential business proposal worth a sum of dollars 10,00,000. I am also in receipt of a kind email from your great grand mother indicating the importance of the international business proposal that you wish to pursue with my humble self. However, I am not exactly sure if the said wife of the late Dr Laboomba is your exact great grandmother. After all, your great grandfather, the late Dr Laboomba was a rather prolific specimen of mankind, and traces of his combination of x-y chromosomes is found in the genome structure of children who came from twenty-three mothers, which includes a mother daughter combination. As you can see, I am in deep understanding of the filial wires of the great clan of late Dr Laboomba, who was the former president of the Peoples’ Republic of Laboombapala.

My assistant just brought me the history of Laboombapala, wherein, I gather that the late Dr Laboomba, in each of his twenty three years in presidency, had instituted the presidential tradition of the a marriage, wherein he gave his folks a fitting party at the expense of the state exchequer. The gifts brought in by the guests were not mandatory, and the red handkerchief given to each on of them with the state seal was the identifier that the responsible citizen has contributed befittingly to the presidential cause, and hence could be invited to the next year’s marriage party. Those who did not the red handkerchief where identified at the exit gate and sent for Honululu, which I understand is an innovative way of guest disposal in the tribe of Lingapala, to which the great late Dr Laboombapala belonged.

Therefore I understand that the Governor of the State Bank of Laboomba, who upon Honululu-ed, took with him the details of the treasure that your great grandfather entrusted upon him, which as per your kind email is saved in the safe custody of Swiss vaults. I am also of further understanding of your business proposal, which calls for a half-half division of the Great Treasure, which I further understand from your email, only I can facilitate. My assistant, who is a graduate of international history, also reminds me that the night of his 23rd marriage, your great grandfather suffered a mysterious medical affliction, to which he could never recover, and lived for exactly eighteen more days and no more.

The new ruler of Laboomba, the son of the third wife of the husband of your great grandmother, Laboombapalapala, I am able to appreciate from your email, is not business savvy of international stature such as yourself, and believes that the holy spirit of Lingapala would ensure that he would better the record of his father, the great Dr Lingapala by achieving atleast 40 marriages.

I understand you want to wire transfer the amount to my personal account through your contacts in Swiss Banking industry, after which I shall get my share of 5 MN and the remaining 5 MN shall be rightfully taken by your kind self. I am quite in agreement with this idea, which to me is not unacceptable, though the sum, though it may appear quite liberal, does not appeal to me quite much, given that currency specified is Lingapala dollar, which is trading 934 to 1 with respect to the Japanese Yen.

Further, as in a matter of disclosure in matters of business pursued with trusted friends such as your esteemed self, I am in also in receipt of a email of business proposal from the son-in-law of the dictator of your neighbourhood republic of Lapasa, who upon defection to a third country, needs similar help in arrangements to ensure the transfer of his treasure through some trusted friend like me. Only that the amount in this case is USD 100,000 which translates to a cool amount of Rs 4,00,000 at today’s conversion rates, unlike your case, which at today’s conversion rates, translates to a grand sum of Rs 176, which will allow me to pay the cable TV bill for my house for exactly one month.

It is for this reason that I respectfully decline your business proposal. Hail the spirit of late Dr Laboombapala!

Sincerely

RK

Mahesh Murthy, one of India’s greatest experts on digital media marketing, was at SearchCamp unconference in Chennnai this morning. The house full audience was all ears as Mahesh laid out his eight predictions for 2008. Mahesh’s eight trends for 2008, as he forsees them:

1. It is not just about Search alone: As per Mahesh, companies would like one agency to handle all digital marketing handled by one agency, which could include SEO, SMS, online marketing etc. Right now companies go to different vendors for different initiatives within digital marketing.
2. It won’t just be about Google: Mahesh feels, over time, a set of competitors would emerge to Google. Marketers would have to evaluate choices from others such as Yahoo, MSN, and local leaders such as Baidu in China, and others in Korea, Australia, Russia. It will require expertise to target specific markets, which is good news for SEO professionals.
3. SERP formula would be broken: It is now possible to create a site and guess about its treatment by the search engines even before it goes online. Almost. In due course people will decode the black box logic.
4. The World will move for Pay-per-performance(P4P): The current model where advertisers pay for so many impressions, or so many clicks will probably give way to a model where people will pay commission on the business brought in by various channels. The SEO/SEM agency would make money this way, which will be more challenging.
5. P4P will extend to other media: The above mentioned P4P model will see adoption in traditional marketing channels. Advertisers will become more aware.
6. It will all be Global: Companies spending dollars in digital marketing will start demanding a global reach, and more universal campaigns. ( Not sure I agree with this one)
7. It will be democratic advertising My phone rings at this point and I go out to take the call so no more details here!)
8. The Model will change, India will be in Control: Mahesh forees the emergence for companies that will adopt the IT model, where the marketing offices would be spread across the world, but the knowledge based work will be done in large centers in India.

Mahesh Murthy’s talk was peppered with details and examples, and he made no bones about his thought that he does not consider Google to be infallible. In his own words, ” The Google Killer is probably out there. We don’t know who is it yet”.

Mahesh, that was an interesting talk. Thanks for that and we remain all ears as we move towards 2008.

(Mahesh Murthy is the CEO of Pinstorm)