The Yaxis Live by Rajesh Kumar

Comparisons can be odious I agree, but sometimes necessary too, as they happen without any effort and results are starkly different. Last week I had to visit two bank branches, one of State Bank of India and another of ICICI Bank and the experiences were so different.

At ICICI Bank, I encountered a queuing machine with very confusing options, and as I stood trying to figure out how to get a token to the correct service desk, a smart looking lad appears, asks me what service I require, quickly punches a few buttons on the machine and hands me a token. Before I say thanks, he asks me whether I need a credit card. I say no, thanks. Lifetime free, he says (What a positioning!). I reach the counter, finish the address update business and head out. On my way out, again confronted by a girl, do I need a credit card.So, ergo, I declare I have one issued by ICICI and hope I would be able to peacefully, she snaps back, “which one is that- Gold?, we can give you Platinum, Titanium”. I step out of the bank without making an eye contact with anyone else so as to avoid any more sales pitch, and once out, I am so relaxed. There are quite a few form holding folks standing near the ATM, so I decided I do not need money now!

Next day I go to State Bank of India to check an update on an account transfer. I get into a branch full of people, but in about five minutes I am out of the branch after successfully collecting the pass book. My overall experience is very pleasant. (Infact, the branch manager of the previous branch had even made an unsuccessful attempt to convince me to continue the account with his branch) Ten years back one found it so difficult to open an account with this bank.Today I felt welcome. What a transformation.

My only problem with the PSU banks is with their marketing.In their quest to emphasize on history alone, they take a slightly tired, old, positioning. It is time for them to show how meaningful the bank is to people early in their life, not to pensioners alone. It is clearly a case of brand management function lagging behind. Have you seen the latest Canara Bank commercials, for instance?

So the truth is finally out- world’s largest software company has accepted defeat by almost saying - their index is better than mine. Microsoft wants the search and advertising capabilities of Yahoo, which essentially means an excellent products company is seeking to integrate the capabilities of a wonderful services company. Saul Hansell of NYT wonders likens it to taking two aircraft carriers and making a new one out of the spare parts. And mind you, two aircraft carriers of different make and flags. Will this work indeed.

The sad truth is that Yahoo is not just search or banner advertising. Its portfolio of services is amazingly diverse. In slightly curt business language, it is not a one trick pony.

Microsoft’s letter to Yahoo’s board is perhaps the politest communication one has heard from MSFT in last decade. Give me your crown jewels, I need them and I know you guys need money, else.. is a one line summary. So instead of frightening Google which is going beyong just web search and advertising, Microsoft has let the secret out- Rest of Yahoo can go to dogs, we want the search and banner advertising. Mr. Ballmer, this does not inspire any confidence of some real upcoming competition.

Sabeer Bhatia, often identified as the guy who sold Hotmail to Microsoft to make his millions, is a serial entrepreneur. Quite a few of his post-Hotmail ventures have not quite been half as successful. Arzoo became a travel agency from what it initially was, and there is nothing to say that it has really been greatly successful either. Live Documents has been a mild ripple in an unproven market of online office productivity suites, which already has Zoho and Google Docs, both getting good reviews, but seeing poor corporate adoption, which is where the money is.

Now Sabeer has launched SabSeBolo, which is a teleconferencing service, where you get a sort of ten party 24X7 permanent bridge(Like MML).And yes, unlike other service providers in India such as Webex and DSNL, it is a simple sign on. Will he succeed? Is it idea, timing, execution or business model, that would make SabSeBolo be a winner?

Idea: Idea is not new, but India is an exploding telecom market and conference calls facilities are still not so competitive. And all existing service providers run after corporate accounts. There is a big vacuum for such facilities such those for educational institutions, small businesses and casual. I forsee its use in organsing alumni activities etc, use by not for profit industry bodies and so on.

Business Model: The conventional way is to pay port charges for the call duration. SabSeBolo liberates you from that. No complicated contracts to start using it. While I did not read and authoritative account of the revenue stream, it is my guess that SabSeBolo could be making money by sharing call termination charges with its telecom service provider, which is Reliance. Another rumoured revenue stream is via short audio ads.

Timing: In the exploding telecom requirements of India, this is certainly an offering that has a great demand.

Execution: The service is in early trial stages and this needs to be watched.

The risk is that this model could be copied by others quite easily, or in the absence of suitable promotional campaigns, this service does not get trails and adoption.

All the best Sabeer!

Ever since I read Wikinomics and Naked Conversations, weird ideas come visiting my head sometimes. When I was waiting for a train at Ernakulam Railway Station, I was watching a fellow passenger looking at his ticket. Came an idea, how cool it would be, if all train tickets stationary have a dynamic ad printing logic like Adsense, which would analyse the to and fro location and the demographic information already available on the ticket. For instance, a train ticket for Ooty purchased by two students in Chennai would print ads of suggested locations of tourist interest in Ooty. A train ticket of a couple heading for Varanasi, would print ads of Saree Shops in Varanasi, and for a very old couple carry ads of easy to locate Hotels near Sankatmochan temple. This, rather than the standard ads that come on the ticket stationary. And depending on the class of ticket purchased, an a hint of the passengers buying power can be gleaned too – all operable marketing information. Imagine how cool the idea would be from a marketing perspective.

Is such an idea likely to be a reality in the future or am I spending far too much time on the net?!

Not too long ago, I was listening to a captivating talk by Rajeev Karwal, CEO of Milagrow and one of India’s most prominent names in Retail. Rajeev was talking at IIT Madras, and his argument was why and how the small retailer will continue to thrive in India.

Well, my wife and I were at a shopping complex here in Chennai and we stopped at a footwear shop. My wife picked up something that caught her attention, which was fancy looking footwear on display. She wanted to try it out, and so she asked for the second piece of the pair ( not a different pair but the left foot one, while the right one was in her hand).

The shopkeeper cum salesman stepped out, walked out to a shop across the lane and then appeared back with the left foot fancy chappal and gave it to her. “It was on display in my brother’s shop”, he said matter-of-factly.

Think about that. He did not even have one pair of chappal but half a pair. We heard about back-to-back ordering etc but no one ever boasted of selling stuff, with half a unit in inventory, and still doing spot delivery on demand. Cool!

Companies using sports to promote their brands is not new, not even in the field of IT. CSC has a Cycling team, SAP has been associated with Formula One car racing and Tennis, Accenture uses Tiger Woods very effectively to drive home the point and so on. However, it may be noted that most of these sports are niche in nature and none matches the reach and spread of Fifa Soccer World Cup, save for the Olympics.

While Indian companies have never shied away from sponsoring sports, the spend has mostly been around cricket, and the target audience being India and Indians. This time, we notice that this barrier stands broken, with Satyam (NYSE: SAY) having signed up as a sponsor of Fifa World Cup 2010 , to be played in South Africa. Perhaps it is true in line with Indian IT companies, which have spread themselves across the world, when it comes to serving customers, hunting talent and setting up bases. It is also very proud to see an Indian company logo standing next to the usual bigtime spenders, such as Coke, Visa, Sony etc. What is quite interesting to note that the neither has the Indian soccer team qualified for South Africa 2010, nor is the event being held in India.