October 2015 ~ Website Design, Development & SEO Service Provider @ 08553452211
alt =""

Thursday 29 October 2015

Our Primary Focus is Disruptive Technologies

Happiest Minds is a next-generation digital transformation, infrastructure, security and product engineering services company, with 100+ customers and 1600+ people, spread across 16 locations. Happiest Minds’ philosophy is simple - 'Happiest People make Happiest Customers'.

In this interview for the Design in India series, Babu K C, General Manager and Head, Hardware Practice, Kiran Veigas, Associate Director, Corporate Strategy and Marketing, and Divya Sasidharan, Engineering Manager, from Happiest Minds, talk to Dilin Anand and Priya Ravindran of EFY.

Happiest Minds
Q: Could you introduce us to Happiest Minds?
A: Happiest Minds is the youngest information technology (IT) services company in India. Having started about four years ago, today we have 1600+ people catering to more than a 100 clients. Our geographical focus areas are the United States (US), Europe and India, in that order. Like the company name suggests, our vision is to keep the employees and customers the happiest.

Q: What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?
A: Hardware practice at Happiest Minds works on all the phases of a product design from concept to production. Given the high-level requirements of the product, we work with the customer to understand their needs and arrive at the specification document, after weighing the viable alternatives. Once the specifications are approved, we go about the product drill, from design to testing and certification, till the product is ready for manufacturing.  Having the capability to offer a turn-key product solution, involving hardware, field-programmable gate array (FPGA), firmware, mechanical design and application software is our unique selling proposition.

Q: What are the niche technologies you work on?
A: Our main focus has always been disruptive technologies. About 85 to 95 per cent of our work revolves around this and that is how we bring about a paradigm shift in the way we think and the way we execute. Next-gen technologies like big data and analytics, cloud, mobility, middlewareare all part of this package.

Q: Your speciality is disruptive technologies. Do you have a separate team for this?
A: Our three business units are Digital Transformation & Enterprise Solutions, Infrastructure Management & Security Services and Product Engineering Services.

Digital Transformation group enables organisations to make a tangible impact in areas like customer experience, business efficiency and business innovation, by taking a disruptive approach in building platforms, integration, processes and insights.

Infrastructure Management and Security Services group helps organisations to improve agility, flexibility, security and interoperability of the enterprise infrastructure for next generation digital transformation.

Product Engineering Services is focused on four specific domains. They are the Enterprise Domain that caters to enterprise independent software vendor (ISV) customers, Customer Platforms focusing on e-commerce, media and entertainment, Internet of Things (IoT) focusing on industrial, automotive and building automation, and Data Center Technologies (DCT) focusing on software-defined networking and data centres.

Q: Could you take us through the post-production support you offer?
A: Post-production support becomes very important as there could be changes coming in at the component level or even from the customisation front, after design closure. Over the last few years, post-production support has become a lot easier with the fabrication house also experiencing a variety of designs. Today, it is not always required that the engineer has to personally go and interact with the fabrication house; a lot of it can be done remotely.

Q: How would you go about telling your clients what you do?
A: We go by experience. Having worked in this field for about four years now, we have loyal customers who come back to us for their next product. They also spread the word, and the references increase our customer pool. Also, with the slowly increasing trend of research and development teams facing the media, thought leadership at events and technical publications, the 'getting-to-know' part is becoming a lot easier.

Q: Tell us about a few of your projects.
A: We have done several processor board designs in the past, mostly based on Intel/ARM processors. Recently, we designed an ARM-based storage server that was quite interesting and challenging too. The interesting part was that it was powered using a 64-bit octa-core ARM processor, a new entrant to the server family. This is a multi-processor system that uses peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) Gen 3 technology for interconnections to numerous boards.  Currently, we are designing a similar system based on Intel Xeon and Atom processors for micro-server applications, which uses high-speed technologies such as PCIe Gen3 and double data rate fourth generation (DDR4) memory modules.

Q: Could you tell us about your work in the industrial domain?
A: Another interesting area is industrial automation and control. We are presently working on one such system for controlling heavy machinery. The system will have precision sensors that sense target parameters like position, velocity, direction and temperature, which are then compared with pre-set values. In the case of a deviation from the desired outcome, the system has to take corrective actions like varying the speed or updating the position of the tool.  The precision and timing required to realise such a system is utmost challenging as everything has to happen in real-time, not forgetting the fact that it has analogue, digital and high-voltage signals, all running on the same board. So, the choice of the processor becomes extremely critical. To guarantee real-time performance, we are using field-programmable gate array (FPGA) for some of the critical paths such as proportional integral derivative (PID) loops, high-speed counter interface and analog-to-digital converter/digital-to-analog converter (ADC/DAC)  interfaces.

We have also worked on other single board computers (SBCs) targeting industrial applications based on high-end Intel processors.  We are looking forward to working on more such challenging projects from the industrial domain.

Q: What about your interests in the test and measurement (T&M) sector?
A: We have been working on an array of T&M boards dealing with high-speed interfaces like serial-attached small computer system interface (serial-attached SCSI), PCIe Gen4, serial advanced technology attachment express (SATAe), universal serial bus (USB) 3.0, DDR4 and a variety of form factors ranging from small form factor(SFF)-based storage devices to small-outline dual-in-line memory module (SODIMM), unregistered dual-in-line memories (UDIMMs) and a few custom form factors targeting specific end-customers. These boards tap high-speed signals from live systems-under-test and are expected to induce minimal noise into those systems. The main challenge here is the speeds at which these interfaces work and the kind of signal integrity (SI) that has to be achieved. During design, these boards are run through multiple levels of SI simulations to ensure that the highest level of signal quality is achieved. In many cases, the high-speed traces are exposed, so as to have minimal propagation delay through the printed circuit board (PCB). Sharp bends are not allowed on these traces, and instead, arcs or curves are used. Back-drilling technique is used to make sure that the stub length on these traces is a bare minimum. In short, the layout of these boards demands the most stringent constraints.

Q: From a PCB perspective, what are the factors that determine signal integrity?
A: The choice of materials used to fabricate the PCB and even the type and quantity of solder used to assemble the components can create an impact on the signal quality and these are very carefully selected.

Q: Talking about boards for T&M equipment, how do you go about testing those boards?
A: Simulation rules the roost here to arrive at the best design. First, a golden board is arrived at, which behaves exactly the way we want it to. All other boards are then tested against this board.

Q: Tell us what you do in the IoT arena.
A: We have a separate practice for IoT projects.  We are already developing new IoT products and also adding connectivity to existing products for our customers. We do all the building blocks for IoT including the hardware, firmware, mechanical enclosure, cloud interface and complete product compliance certifications, and deliver ready-to-manufacture designs.

Q: What is the most exciting IoT project you have worked on?
A: We worked on a lighting control solution project recently. Instead of walking to the switchboard and manually turning on/off lights, you operate it via a mobile phone. You can also access your lights remotely from anywhere in the world, as long as the devices are connected.

Q: How do you see the growth of independent design houses (IDHs) in India?
A: India-based product design houses have a good future. There is a lot of untapped potential for services companies offering hardware/firmware design services. There are several players in this field already, but there is space available for more.  India is traditionally known for software outsourcing, but our hardware or complete product design capabilities are not well-known as it is not marketed well like the software. I think people should come forward and start new ventures to offer product design services for India, as well as for global clients. There are challenges like lack of component industry in India, complicated customs rules and related delays in importing parts, but these can be solved with appropriate help from the government.


Wednesday 28 October 2015

CeBIT INDIA 2015

CeBIT INDIA 2015

Date: 29- 31 October 2015
Venue: BIEC, Bengaluru

CeBIT INDIA 2015: New Perspectives in IT Business. Discover Digital Business Solutions Marketplace.

Happiest Minds is an Exhibitor at the World’s leading Business IT and ICT show – CeBIT!

 CeBIT INDIA 2015

Business is going digital, with traditional processes and business models now undergoing massive digital transformation. At the event, experience the ‘Digital Marketplace’ and understand what new technology can do for your business, discover early, talk to technology innovators & solution providers at CeBIT INDIA 2015!

Visit us at Hall-1, Booth A-23 to experience Digital.

Puneet Jetli– CEO, Digital Transformation and Enterprise Solutions(DT&ES) Business will be in a panel discussion on "Diconomy - The shared economy - making it all work together" on 30th Oct from 11:15 AM to 15:15 AM.

For more details click here http://www.cebit-india.com/

Tuesday 27 October 2015

Disruptive Technology Roundup - Product Engineering Services


Cloud computing is the foremost among the disruptive technologies that rule the IT industry.  Organizations are leveraging public cloud for reducing the infrastructure costs and also for a faster delivery of technology projects. Since the data moved into the cloud is often dependent on the application that creates and maintains it, it is vital to integrate the SaaS apps in the cloud with the existing on- premise software. Configuring these multiple SaaS applications to share data in the cloud is crucial in determining the success or failure of cloud projects. Instead of choosing the richest SaaS application, organizations should consider the performance of the app and its ability to integrate into an overall portfolio. It is crucial that the app purchasing decisions need to consider operational performance metrics beyond features and functionality, and how new SaaS apps will contribute to the way the business runs in the future. In this age of Big Data, where large chunks of data are analyzed for churning out Business intelligence and insights, organizations should consider the SaaS vendors that provide access to their own data with better performing and efficiently integrated SaaS applications. 

Businesses are moving into an age of innovation and disruption with the influence of new age disruptive technologies including IoT and Big Data. When everything and everyone gets connected into an integrated global network, the safety of data from unauthorized access, dissemination, and usage is a matter of greater concern. Organizations are now searching for new ways and means to protect their assets from cyber security breaches. At a time when traditional security measures become inefficient, a major rethink of the existing cyber security systems and strategies is the need of the hour. The global cyber security industry is going through a fundamental change and is growing to address the cyber security challenges in the age of IoT. With IoT creating innovations and disruptions in the business world, parallel innovations are happening in the cyber security space also to address the IoT security threats.

Technology space is witnessing a major upheaval with the new disruptive technologies changing the way businesses are carried out. Cloud, Social, and Mobile are converging and accelerating one another to give rise to a constant access paradigm consisting of:

Continuous Services – solutions will increasingly need to be cloud-based to ensure they are always available on-demand and can be consumed on demand.

Connected Devices – proliferation of the number and types of devices that allow users to be continuously or intermittently connected to the internet and with one another.  
Product Engineering Services

With a combination of agile methodology, experienced architects and pre-built components, Happiest Minds deliver Product Engineering Services on 4 specific domains: Enterprise Domain catering to Enterprise ISV customer, Customer Platforms focussing on E-Commerce and Media & Entertainment, IoT focussing on Industrial and Automotive & Building Automation and Data Center Technologies (DCT) focussing on Software Defined Networking and Data Centres. A strong team of technical experts to offer Architecture and Engineering services, well-defined methodologies, frameworks and product engineering processes and standards make Happiest Minds a preferred partner for Product Engineering Services.



Monday 26 October 2015

Choosing the best IAM Suite for your Organization: Criteria Checklist

Choosing the best IAM Suite for your Organization: Criteria Checklist

An Identity and Access Management solution (IAM) can make or break your organization’s security posture. There is no one ‘right’ solution since the solution that you choose will depend on any number of factors: the size of your organization (will decide the scope of the solution); the level of granularity you need (will decide how feature-rich you want it to be); your budget, etc.

Some criteria to consider when evaluating IAM solutions:

On-premise or cloud-based?

This choice depends on your business objectives. On-premise solutions are perceived as more secure, and allowing the enterprise greater control over the location of data. However, a cloud solution can be implemented faster, is flexible and scalable, and cheaper to deploy. Many solutions in the market today are a hybrid of the two, and may best suit your needs.  

How interoperable is the solution?

Look for a solution that can be easily integrated with various types of directories, any third-party authentication systems that you use, as well all the applications that your employees, customers and vendors need access to.

A point solution or full IAM suite?

The initial payout on point solutions may be lower, but deploying a full IAM suite confers long-term benefits that outweigh the higher upfront investment. A full-features suite covers all aspects of identity and access management, doing away with the need to invest in multiple point solutions; thus reducing complexity as well as resulting cost of integration.

Does the solution offer a high level of automation?

An automated IAM solution reduces effort around provisioning and de-provisioning. For instance, the identity and access components will be integrated such that a change in job role (hence, user identity) will automatically change associated access rights. The automation of provisioning, re-provisioning, and de-provisioning reduces time and effort spent, as well as human error.

Does the solution cover reporting and auditing requirements?

The complex nature of compliance necessitates a tool that goes beyond identity and access management to aggregate and track audit logs. Such tools monitor events and alert users to possible compliance violations.
Does the solution offer self-service features?

Self-service features enable productivity. Features such as password resets and unlocking accounts, when available through a secure and self-service portal, take away the necessity for a fully functioning help desk, driving down costs and increasing the efficiency of employees.

Does the solution have a friendly, customizable user interface?

A solution with sophisticated dashboards offers a high-level overview that is of great value to business users.

Finally, look for a solution that is scalable and highly available, especially when it comes to key functions such as provisioning, authentication, and access management. Additionally, it should not just answer your current needs but also have the potential to evolve and scale up to meet planned future needs.

Last Word

As important as the solution is the implementation team that you choose to deploy it. A good implementation partner can ensure quick deployment with a rapid return and minimum business disruption. To determine the right implementation partner for your needs, consider:

·         Location (single point or multiple) and geographical reach of the company
·         Skill base and service offerings
·         Managed Services capability (if that is what you are eventually heading towards)
·         Agility and flexible pricing models
·         Expertise in the chosen solution
·         Ability to offer round-the-clock support
·         Service Level Agreement

Look for an implementation partner with the necessary expertise, resources, and capabilities to help you with a complex implementation and post-implementation support. Do not forget to ask around and listen to what the market has to say about the company.




Thursday 22 October 2015

The Critical Success Factors for Digital Transformation Programmes

Right now it feels like the whole world is moving to digital at breakneck speed. Banks, insurance companies, retailers and large manufacturers are all looking at how they can digitally transform the organisation to keep up with customer demand, business expectations and compete globally.

However, while digital transformation is becoming all-pervasive agreement on what digital transformation actually means, how to leverage its potential, and most importantly how to make a digital transformation project a success still remains elusive for many.

Digital transformation can be viewed holistically as the confluence of SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) technologies, cutting through business processes, enabling agile & secure infrastructure, leveraging IoT & connected devises, driven by seamless integration into (and upgrading) of current IT systems and underpinned by actionable insights for sustainable differentiation across customer experience and business efficiency.

See also: Cloud strategies for digital transformation

In fact, you could argue that customer experience is a big driver for digital transformation projects and will continue to be for a long time to come. What this means is:

The personalisation of content, experience, pricing, recommendation, service and so on; the provision of real-time and aware applications that leverage preferences, insights, context and location awareness; systems or processes that enable on-going customer engagement for deeper insights that drive higher loyalty and advocacy; an omni-channel approach that provides the flexibility and choice for customers to leverage any channel they want;

The business efficiency theme driving digital transformation projects is all around creating differentiation for organisations through one or more of the following: helping an organisation to become more agile and responsive in its ability to identify either opportunities or to protect against threats; taking cost optimisation to the next level by further automating mundane and routine tasks that can be more efficiently handled by intelligent systems; creating better decision making powered by real-time data and insights, rather than by gut-feel and intuition; and unleashing the ability to innovate through the provision of new offerings or different business models.

That said, the key driver for most organisations around digital transformation primarily stems from the fact that it offers tremendous opportunity to enable business differentiation and impact in the market.

It will give many organisations the competitive edge they are looking for - and in some instances change the game in their respective sectors.

However, embarking on a digital transformation programme comes with its own set of challenges and requires an enormous amount of change to the organisation in order to bring in this new approach.

This is a complicated programme of work that involves people, process and technology, which are all equally important.

Here are four critical success factors that will help organisations tap into the tremendous potential that digital can offer:

Transformation
Like any transformation exercise, digital transformation needs to align to business vision, strategy, with the clarity of an implementation roadmap and a series of connected initiatives to achieve the goals.
A digital transformation project with no executive management commitment and support is the most common pitfall for organisations. Point solution implementation without the definition of a roadmap of connected initiatives. It requires leadership buy-in and working collaboratively with a range of key stakeholders.

Complement your capabilities

Assessing your digital capabilities is just the first stage. You then need a plan to get your project from where you are to where you need to be. As this is likely to be a large transformation programme, it is critically important that the project team keeps referring back to their original assessment and plan.
This will keep the team grounded throughout as to why they are going through the pain to get the organisation where it needs to be to advance the business in a world that has become increasingly mobile and progressively digital.

Front & back end

Any digital transformation should look to leverage your current IT investments and systems. If you only focus on digitising the front-end technologies without adequate consideration for the enablement and modernisation of your existing systems, you won’t leverage the full potential and benefits of the digital project.

Multi-functional buy-in

A fundamental review of all your business processes and capabilities is required with a view tooptimise them by leveraging digital technologies. Digital is all pervasive and not something led by IT or Marketing or independent business departments - more than ever it needs a multi-function team.
A multi-disciplinary approach is a prerequisite for a digital transformation initiative to be successful. Companies need to be careful that it does not creates silos & internal competition.

See also: 3 steps to futureproofing a business with digital transformation

Most companies tend to start small with pilots and proof of concepts. That is a good way of getting buy-in, however it needs to be aligned to an overall vison and roadmap.

In my experience if a digital transformation project lacks management or stakeholder buy-in and/or fails to adequately take into consideration its current IT landscape, then alarm bells should start ringing as these two factors are the most common cause of stress, delays and failed digital projects. And remember, timeframes for these types of projects also tend to shrink due to demands from the business.

Try to set a realistic timeframe rather than the timeframe that the business dictates and work with a digital partner that has the ability and agility to deliver what you need. Otherwise you are certain to set yourself up for failure.

Sourced from Isaac George, Senior VP and Regional Head, Happiest Minds UK


Is An OmniChannel Officer Inevitable?

The rapid advances in the technology landscape and proliferation of digital have taken customers beyond multi-channel to an Omnichannel retail experience. Global retailers that include the likes of Macy’s, Saks and Lowe’s have already moved in this direction enabling customers to shop anytime, anywhere and enjoy consistent and delightful experience.

Omnichannel retail aims at enabling sales initiatives through multiple channels – online, brick and mortar stores, social media, events, mobile, and the usual traditional sales efforts; at the same time creating consistent and uniform customer experience at each sales touch point. The channel operations are connected at the back end to provide the integrated, customer specific information whenever required. The availability of customer information across all channels through regular information sharing enables store representatives and online customers view the same data anytime, anywhere.

However, building an Omnichannel capability is easier said than done. It needs a totally integrated operation across all customer touch points - store operations, marketing, call center, and digital (which includes all forms of non-store-based commerce). This is made all the more difficult because the traditional organizational structure creates siloes.
To take an example, let’s look at product and customer data. Data is generated in-store through point-of-sale systems, e-commerce and m-commerce platforms, the contact center, and other systems.  This information is collected and stored across different systems because retailers have traditionally kept sales channels independent of one another. These systems generally don’t get the necessary attention to turn that data into real information assets. Rather than having a central repository that can syndicate product information out to the various channels, retailers create product assortments based on sales channels.
On the customer side, CRM systems are often struggling to get a single view of the customer. Customer information is among the most valuable assets in retail but it is rarely utilized properly. An order fulfillment system may be the lifeline of an Omnichannel experience but its deployment is usually deferred citing high investment costs, lack of integration with existing systems and lack of time and resources dedicated to deployment.

Technical problems apart, siloed skills create their own issues. Disconnects exist between retailer’s business and technical staff. Open conversations are rare between the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) around people, processes and technology. There are separate heads for all the functions - marketing, finance, merchandising, HR, stores, who report into the CEO or the President. Very few people who have the holistic understanding of the business requirements are available and all of them are among the topmost C-level executives. Unfortunately their hands are always too tied up to take up and drive an operation like the creation of Omnichannel retail capabilities.

Organization level ownership, commitment and accountability is needed to break these silos and to drive synchronization and alignment. Since such a capability cannot be built without active involvement, monitoring, facilitation and support from the leadership, the creation of a dedicated senior level position responsible for Omnichannel becomes an imperative for the success of this initiative. This will be the omni-channel   officer or Chief Omni Channel Officer, who has a good understanding of all the customer touch points, a holistic understanding of business needs and a direct reporting to the top leadership.

The Chief Omni Channel Officer will manage the development of strategies that will integrate the company’s stores, online and mobile activities; take on responsibility for systems and technology, logistics and related operating functions. It could also be a position different from the traditional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in the sense that it is becomes a P&L role where he/ she will also be looking after revenue generation activities along with a reasonable share of the profitability. Chief Omni Channel Officer will look after the store level/ digital level execution and will also be responsible for the ROI on marketing investment. Undoubtedly, the Chief Omni Channel Officer will have to play the prime role in accelerating digital growth while inseminating an organic acceptance of Omni-channel best practices across all departments of a company in such a way that it doesn’t affect the current high performing channels.

The ideal Chief Omni Channel Officer should be a candidate with an experience in store operations, call center operations, digital and marketing which is very hard to get. Someone with a strong digital/ marketing experience and exposure to the other business functions should be a good enough to handle the role properly.

Essentially, the operationalization of Omnichannel is an exercise in managing change and it should start at the very top with the leadership making it clear in no uncertain terms that this is one initiative that has been sponsored by them. All the stakeholders, right from the customer support executives in the stores to the senior C-level executives should brace up to whole heartedly support the initiative. Ultimately how effective an initiative has been depends as much on how it has been accepted as on how it has been implemented. This is critical to convert the Omni-channel investment into tangible long term returns and strategic advantage.


Tuesday 20 October 2015

Fascinating How To Get Traffic From Tumblr Tactics That Can Help Your Business Grow

Social media do take lots of time but if you are seeing a return on your investment there, you are most likely looking for more good social media sites to expand to. While there isn't a shortage of social media sites, some of them are just a waste of time and effort, so you'd better skip them and head to the ones that work.


It is not that hard to find good social media sites. For instance, Tumblr might not be as big as Facebook or Twitter, but it is a popular blogging and social networking site, so you might want to explore it as well. Most of the tips for getting traffic from social media sites in general apply to Tumblr as well but as you will see, there are some specific ones that are tied just to it.

1 Post All Types of Media You Can

Tumblr offers multiple types of media for you to post. These types include: text, photo, quote, link, audio, and video and the best you can do is use them all. Of course, if your content is not fit for a particular type of post, don't force yourself to post that particular media ‐ i.e. if your products are not visual, video and even photos might be an overkill. You can post things that are directly related to your business and niche but you can also post more fun stuff that will appeal to the general audience.

2 Post Memes

One of the specific things about Tumblr is that of all sorts of media, memes are especially popular. Memes aren't very hard to create, so if you can't find cool ready-made ones, take the time to create a couple of memes yourself, post them, and see if they get the response you are hoping for. If they do, invest more time and effort (or even consider hiring somebody else) to create more memes.

3 Add Many and Relevant Tags

Tags on Tumblr are very important because this is the main channel through which users will find you. This is why it makes sense to add as many (but relevant) tags as possible. Look for variations and synonyms of your target keywords, and include them all. It goes without saying, though, that you shouldn't become a tag spammer.


4 Create an Excellent Profile

As on all social media, your profile is your business card. Therefore, you can't afford to have a messy profile. You need to create an excellent profile so that other users like you ‐ this increases the chance of getting more followers.

5 Be Active and Regular

If you don't already know that social media do take time daily, now you will learn it. The key to getting and keeping an active and loyal following on Tumblr is to be active and loyal yourself. It's better to post a link a day than post 10 links at once after you have been gone for 10 days because in the first case your followers will have the habit of checking the daily stuff from you, while in the second case they will never know when you will post and might miss your multiple posts.

6 Interact with Other Users

Another trick to becoming popular on Tumblr is to interact with other users. Follow them, comment on their posts, reblog their stuff ‐ this all helps to become a Tumblr star whose posts are read by many users.

7 Reblog, Reblog, Reblog

When you find a good post from somebody else, don't hesitate to reblog it. This way you are feeding your audience with new stuff, while at the same time the original author will be thankful and might reblog some your original posts in return.

8 Quality Matters More than Quantity

When we say to be active in posting and interacting with other users, this doesn't mean you should spam and nag ‐ it's better to post less frequently, if you have nothing relevant to post than to post junk every day just for the sake of it. You might think of filler posts (i.e. funny stuff that supposedly appeals to everybody) and have some of these in stock, so you can post them when you have nothing better but don't post meaningless posts just to fill your daily quota.

9 Blog Around a Niche

While nobody limits your topics, for best results, you'd better narrow down your choices to topics from one niche. Tumblr is especially good, if you need niche traffic, so if you have multiple niches, you'd better create separate profiles for each of them than mix them all in one profile.

10 You Can Advertise Yourself but Do It with Measure

Tumblr allows to place ads in your posts, so you can advertise yourself, your site, or your products but do it once a week at most; otherwise, you will irritate your followers really soon and the effect you will achieve will be just the opposite to what you want. Resist the temptation to post ad, if the ad itself is not cool, or if the product/service you are promoting is far from excellent. You need to do this only once and many of your followers will drop you right away.

Tumblr doesn't have the huge number of users of Facebook but the good thing is that your competition isn't that huge either. If you have good stuff to post and you are persistent, sooner or later you will get noticed. And who knows, even if Tumblr isn't the first choice for many other webmasters, it might turn out that for you personally it works like a charm. In fact this is what matters most ‐ if it works for you, not for the whole world.

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Success and Happiness

Ashok Soota was invited by the Ananta Aspen Centre in August 2015 to speak at their CEO Series.He spoke on Success and Happiness in a session that was facilitated by Anuj Poddar, Viacom 18 Media.Watch him in “The CEO Series : Leading in the 21st Century with Ashok Soota”


In his words, some suggestions to be happy:
  • Pursue your Passion
  • Create a Mindset of creating a problem into an opportunity
  •  A sense of Well-being
  • Honest self-assessment and self-awareness 
“Truthfulness, Love, Forgiveness, Passion & Resilience are characteristics to develop &  emotions to nurture for Happiness. Similarly, Envy, Greed, Anger and Hatred are emotions to avoid.
Success without Happiness is not success. Therefore the two really converge in the context of saying that what really counts is a truly happy life.”

Monday 12 October 2015

Happiest Minds CEO & MD

Happiest Minds CEO & MD Sashi Kumar
Happiest Minds Technologies, a next generation IT company today announced the appointment of Sashi Kumar as the CEO & MD of the organization.
Sashi comes to Happiest Minds with a wealth of experience. During his career of 23 years, he has been profit centre head for 11 years and has achieved significant success and innovative breakthroughs in his previous roles. Prior to Happiest Minds, Sashi has led significant operations in Microsoft, SAP and CSC. He began his career in Wipro.
While welcoming Sashi Kumar to Happiest Minds, Ashok Soota, Executive Chairman, Happiest Minds said that "Sashi's experience in global products and services companies will provide a tremendous push towards bringing innovation to Happiest Minds in a world of productized services and solutions. This, coupled with his expertise in global business services and SMAC+ technologies, will further accelerate our success in implementing Digital Transformation solutions for our customers."
On his appointment, Sashi Kumar said, "Happiest Minds has shown tremendous growth under its current leadership and I am delighted to be the CEO & MD of this fast growing company. I have an opportunity to build a global organization and I truly believe in its Mission of "Happiest People. Happiest Customers".
Happiest Minds' strategy of focusing on disruptive technologies has resonated well with customers. It has achieved several records for an IT services company out of India in 3 years from its launch, with run rate of US$ 50mn, 94 customers and 1450 people. Happiest Minds is also on track for its goal of going public in maximum 7 years from its launch.
About Happiest Minds Technologies
Happiest Minds has a sharp focus on enabling Digital Transformation for customers by delivering a Smart, Secure and Connected experience through disruptive technologies: mobility, big data analytic, securitycloud computingsocial computing, M2M/IoT, unified communications , etc. Enterprises are embracing these technologies to implement Omni-channel strategies, manage structured and unstructured data and make real time decisions based on actionable insights, while ensuring security for data and infrastructure. Happiest Minds also offers high degree of skills, IPs and domain expertise across a set of focused areas that include Digital Transformation & Enterprise Solutions, Product Engineering Services, Infrastructure Management, Security, Testing and Consulting.
Headquartered in Bangalore, India, Happiest Minds has operations in the US, UK, Singapore and Australia. It secured a $52.5 million Series-A funding led by Canaan Partners, Intel Capital and Ashok Soota.

Wednesday 7 October 2015

The Cheapest Way to Improve Productivity: Make Your Employees Happy

Some employers view their relationship with workers as purely transactional: The company pays employees for their services, and staff members are responsible for getting their work done. Happiness doesn’t even enter into the equation, but we now know this is a mistake.

A slew of research has found that employee happiness has a dramatic effect on performance. A study published in the University of Warwick’s Economic Research Institute Journal revealed, “human happiness has large and positive causal effects on productivity… Positive emotions appear to invigorate human beings, while negative emotions have the opposite effect.”

1

So how can companies promote workplace happiness? Here are five best practices companies can use to promote employee happiness in the workplace:

1.Give people choices. People like to have a say in shaping their workday and controlling their own destiny. Daniel Pink, author of the New York Times bestselling book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, drew on four decades of scientific research to discover that autonomy is one of the three pillars of the “motivation formula.”

Autonomy means giving employees control over when they work, where they work, and what they work on. It means allowing for self-determination and flexibility, and focusing on results, rather than face-time. Choice and autonomy are proven to be powerful drivers of employee motivation and performance.

“We found that knowledge workers whose companies allow them to help decide when, where, and how they work were more likely to be satisfied with their jobs, performed better, and viewed their company as more innovative than competitors that didn’t offer such choices,” wrote Diane Hoskins in the Harvard Business Review.

2

2.Help people achieve emotional wellness. The World Health Organization found that the cost of stress to American businesses is as much as $300 billion. And its estimated that two-thirds of visits to the doctor’s office are for stress-related conditions. These visits cause costs to soar in the form of decreased productivity and absenteeism.

Stressed employees do not perform at their peak level, and it doesn’t matter whether the stress is directly related to work. For example, money trouble is one of the most powerful sources of stress out there. The American Psychological Association reports five out of the eight top sources of stress in America are financial. If an employee is worried about their personal finances, that stress will be reflected in their work.

As an employer, it is your best interest to help your employees achieve emotional wellness. It’s important that employees don’t feel overburdened or overwhelmed by their work. They need time to unwind, at or away from the office. And since socialization and exercise are known stress reducers, you can promote emotional wellness by encouraging employees to engage in these activities. In addition, many successful organizations provide confidential counseling services through a third-party.

3

3.Cultivate purpose and meaning. One of the other pillars to employee satisfaction and happiness is purpose. Harvard Professor Rosabeth Kanter wrote that people want to work for companies where they feel that they’re making a meaningful difference in the world. People who believe in what they are doing are happier, more motivated, and more productive.

Employers can cultivate purpose in the workplace by writing a meaningful mission statement and placing it around the office. This will help remind employees on a regular basis why they are there and why they do what they do.

The next step is to ensure that employee goals align with the organizational goals, which is best done through one-on-one meetings where individuals can share their thoughts with their managers, and feel that their voice gets heard. Managers can also instill a sense of purpose by giving every employee the opportunity to use their strengths.

4.Spread happiness. Putting someone in charge of spreading happiness — appointing a “happiness evangelist” — can be an incredibly effective way to foster a cultural change. Most leaders have a hefty amount on their plate, and don’t have a lot of bandwidth to dedicate to “softer” issues like how people are feeling. Moreover, they are probably not trained to do so.

A happiness evangelist (or in Google’s case, the Jolly Good Fellow) is responsible for creating an environment where people feel valued and happy. They can spearhead initiatives to improve workplace satisfaction, like catered lunch, regular happy hours, or work-from-home Fridays, as well weed out sources of dissatisfaction. This person ensures that employee happiness remains a priority and prevents issues from festering to the point where performance is compromised.

4

5.Reward and recognize. It is human nature to respond positively to recognition and rewards. An analysis from Gallup that spanned 10,000 business units found that “the act of recognizing desired behavior increases the repetition of the desired behavior, and therefore productivity.” Employee recognition leads to greater employee satisfaction and enjoyment of work, better teamwork, higher retention, lower negative effects from absenteeism and stress, and even higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers.

Incentivizing employees and celebrating success makes employees feel valued and boosts confidence. It helps them feel a sense of accomplishment, which is a powerful motivator, and reinforces their sense of meaning and joy in their work. Rewards and recognition can take many forms, including from gift cards, time off, public recognition at a weekly company meeting, and of course, promotions. In any case, they inspire employees to do their best.

The impact of happy employees on an organization is dramatic. A Russell Investment Group study found that stocks for companies on the Fortune 100 “Best Companies to Work For” list significantly outperformed the average. Caring about employee happiness isn't just the “right” thing to do, it is the smart business thing to do.

Monday 5 October 2015

Happiest Minds declared “Startup of the Year” at The Smart CEO – Startup50 Awards



Happiest Minds Technologies, the next generation Digital Transformation, Infrastructure & Security and Product Engineering Services Company, won the "The Smart CEO Startup50 - Startup of the Year Award at the prestigious  "SmartCEO Startup50 Awards 2015: Recognizing the Leaders and Change-makers of tomorrow”. Happiest Minds was among the winners in the Rapid Growth Category.

The Startup50 Conference and Awards was conceptualized with a very specific goal in mind: to recognize and reward entrepreneurs who’ve scaled up their businesses in the most strategic way and at a dynamic pace.

The Conference revolved around understanding the art and science of building long-term businesses in various sectors - including technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer, retail etc. - through discussions with venture capital investors and entrepreneurs. The summit culminated with an Awards ceremony to recognize 50 of India’s most promising startups. The nominated companies were evaluated by a jury, which comprised a leading panel of experts from the Indian entrepreneurship ecosystem, investors and top Indian business leaders.

"The Smart CEO Startup50 - Startup of the Year" Award highlighted Happiest Minds’ overall performance and track record among all the top 50 companies recognized as winners across different categories.

“The Startup of the Year” Award focused on scaling of critical parameters of Revenue and People, where Happiest Minds had already established its credentials with several international recognitions such as the Deloitte Tech Fast 50 awards etc.

“Winning two awards on the eve of our Foundation Day, is recognition of our cutting edge offerings in the sphere of Digital Transformation and allied services. As one of the fastest growing companies, we are proud to share this moment with our customers and gratefully acknowledge their steadfast support in this journey”, said Sashi Kumar – CEO & MD, Happiest Minds.

“Our philosophy is, “happiest people make happiest customers”. Our mission is a constant reminder of the fact that we are in the business of making our customers happy through happy people. Receiving such awards gives us the confidence that we are on the right track,” added Raja Shanmugam, Chief People Officer at Happiest Minds.

With a $ 50mn+ annualized revenue run rate, 100+ valued customers and a team size of more than 1500, Happiest Minds is also en route to becoming the fastest Indian IT services company aiming to achieve $100mn in revenue with a focus on going public within the next 4 years.

About Happiest Minds Technologies


Happiest Minds is a next generation digital transformation, infrastructure, security and product engineering Services Company with 100+ customers , 1500+ people and 16 locations. Happiest Minds enables Digital Transformation for enterprises and technology providers by delivering seamless customer experience, business efficiency and actionable insights through an integrated set of disruptive technologies: big data analytics, internet of things, mobility, cloud, security, unified communications, etc. Happiest Minds offers domain centric solutions applying skills, IPs and functional expertise in IT Services, Product Engineering, Infrastructure Management and Security. These services have applicability across industry sectors such as retail, consumer packaged goods, e-commerce, banking, insurance, hi-tech, engineering R&D, manufacturing, automotive and travel/transportation/hospitality. Headquartered in Bangalore, India, Happiest Minds has operations in the US, UK, Singapore, Australia and has secured $ 52.5 million Series-A funding. Its investors are JP Morgan Private Equity Group, Intel Capital and Ashok Soota.


Email : media@happiestminds.com

Source : Happiest Minds