KayKay @ ISB And Beyond...

The First [R] Journal is OUT

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:59:00 +0000

For those, who are not familiar with [R], it is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows and MacOS. I am amazed by its vreadth and depth of the statistical magic that it does. I became one of the power users of [R] for my analytical projects and wanted to share the first journal that was released today...

http://journal.r-project.org/2009-1/RJournal_2009-1.pdf

Creation of Google Chrome

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:34:00 +0000

A picture is worth 1000000000 words...

The Google Online Marketing Challenge

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:47:00 +0000

Registration for the 2009 Online Marketing Challenge is now open. More details Here

I wanted to let you know about Google's academic initiative to help students develop their online marketing knowledge. It's called the Google Online Marketing Challenge and has been developed by academics across the world in collaboration with us. It launched for the first time last year and received rave reviews from students and professors alike. Here is some of the feedback we received;

85% of professors and 87% of students believed they were more deeply engaged with the Challenge compared to other teaching tools (simulations, case studies, class projects for local businesses, etc.).
96% of professors want to participate in the Challenge again next year and 85% of students would recommend participating in the Challenge to friends.

This year we would love to have you and your students participate.

This is how it works - Teams of 3-6 students receive US$200 of online advertising with Google AdWords and then source local candidate businesses to work with to devise effective online marketing campaigns. Teams outline a strategy, run their campaign, assess the results and provide the business with recommendations to further develop their online marketing. Teams submit their reports and are judged by a panel of independent academics from all over the world.

The challenge is a great opportunity for students to gain practical, real world experience. Students also get the excitement of competing on a global level for a chance to visit the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California. In addition, regional winners and their professor will receive a trip to their local Google office.

This is designed to be a flexible competition and the amount of time and effort you dedicate is up to you. If you choose, this will only require a minimal time commitment. For more information you can review the Academic Guide at http://www.google.com/onlinechallenge/academic_guide.pdf. This includes everything you will need to know to decide if the Challenge is right for you and your students.

Do you think this is something that would be of interest? If so, please register on our website at www.google.com/onlinechallenge.

Dates:

Registrations are open until January 23rd,
Competition will run between January 26th until May 22nd 2009.
Winners will be announced in July.

All the Best!!!!!!

Social Networking User Base - Millions of Dollars on Table

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:51:00 +0000

If you are wondering, how big this Social Networking is in terms of its user base and the business scope, the stats are here:

Social Networking User Base

I was thrilled by the enormity of this user base and added to my thrill, the recently released IDC report on U.S. Consumer Online Attitudes Survey Results Part III (IDC #214899). This report examines Social Networking Sites (SNS) audience reach compared to mainstream services, such as Google and Yahoo!, the demographics of SNS users, and consumer tolerance for SNS advertising compared to online advertising in general.

However, taking a deep dive into this business model of Online Advertising to this SNS segment, the results are not pretty encouraging, unless there comes an innovative way of capturing the target set.

The Myth: "Several companies are thinking that the popularity of SNS will attract a big audience and generate a lot of traffic, which in turn will produce enormous amounts of user-generated content (UGC) and therefore advertising inventory, without any expenses for editorial staff or content distribution deals”.

Consumers are spending ever-greater amounts of time on SNS, a fact that has advertisers drooling over the opportunity represented by SNS; however the biggest challenge is to hard sell the advertising space (inventory). Advertising does not factor into consumer motivations. In fact, users are less tolerant of SNA advertising than the best tolerated forms of online advertising.

Some Important Facts:

> 50% of U.S. consumers with Internet access use social networking services (SNS), such as Facebook and MySpace, and penetration will continue to increase.
Consumers who use SNS also tend to visit the services often and spend a lot of time per visit.
>75% of SNS users visit at least once a week, and > 57% visit at least once a day.
During each session:

~61% of SNS users spend at least 30 minutes on the respective site or stay logged in permanently
~38% spend at least one full hour per session (or stay logged in).

Four Major reasons why consumers use SNS:

To connect and communicate
In response to peer-pressure
For entertainment
For work-related purposes

Stats on SNS Advertising:

Ads on SNS have lower click-through rates (CTR) than traditional online ads
On an average Web Search, 79% of all users clicked on at least one ad in the past year, whereas only 57% of SNS users did
Purchase: Web: 23%; SNS 11%

One of the potential benefits of SNS that the advertising industry has discussed is whether peoples' connections (i.e., whom a user knows or is linked to) could be used for advertising. For instance, publishers could show a car manufacturer's ads to a user's contacts because that user's online behavior has indicated that she is interested in a particular brand of cars. Anecdotally, there has been some indication that this "social advertising" might be more effective than behavioral targeting.

However, that idea is stillborn!!!!

Source & Credits: IDC report on U.S. Consumer Online Attitudes Survey

Article on "How TV stars won the war"

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:22:00 +0000

Very interesting..... Couldn't stop posting...

Courtesy: DC, Dec 3rd.

ARTICLE BY SUPARNA SHARMA

NEW DELHI

"India's best-known television journalists appear to have finally beaten Ekta Kapoor in the battle for TRPs. In six days flat. The all-out war witnessed editors being paradropped, reporters lying prostrate on the ground when not blaring into the cameras, and a thousand "breaking stories" every day.

Here's how the TRPs were garnered, shot by shot, starting around 10.30 pm on Wednesday, November 26:

¦ Close in on the woman in tears — show her from every possible angle and deliver a soul-wrenching commentary of what might be going through her mind.

¦ Repeatedly flash shots of the adorable, crying child. Shove your mike in his face. Oh! hasn't learnt to talk yet, not even Yiddish? Ask the woman carrying the child how she rescued him from the carnage. Not maudlin enough? Ask how many dead bodies she saw, get a blood question in. Ask if she was scared, ask what she was thinking while bullets were being sprayed around.

¦ Download all background scores of Ramsay and his brothers —especially Khooni Shikanja, Vehshi Aatma and Shaitan Khopri — and play it every time (that is at least 25 times a minute) pictures of the terrorists are flashed. ¦ Catch a victim. Chase him. If it's a "her", then your channel's reputation depends on getting an arousing account of how she felt — when she saw the bodies, the terrorists, when she heard the screams. Feelings. And get her to tell viewers what she was feeling when she saw her best friend's body.

Remember, all worldclass reportage always begins with that one question: "How are you feeling?" But it wasn't just on borrowed ideas that the news channels competed for TRPs. The skills these news channels have been honing for a long time came in handy too. In order of priority: ? Flash "exclusive" — even if the reporter is sending in reports from outside the Taj Mahal Hotel, where at least 400 reporters are stationed. And for viewers gone blind while watching blood-curdling reportage, scream "exclusive" after every nine words. ?

Forget that commandos are in the hotel trying to rescue innocent people. Scream into the mike and tell the world that you, and only you, have an "exclusive" bit of information from your source, now on the hotel's 19th floor. ? Get your reporters to lie down, ducking killer bullets, even as the cameraperson is standing next to him, recording histrionics. ? Ask anxious relatives if they think their friends and family members, who are still inside, will be able to walk out alive.

To finally clinch the TRP race, many top television editors were paradropped and the story was turned around. It became all about them and their trauma. Barkha Dutt took viewers on a tour of the Taj Mahal Hotel, choked up and emotional, gesturing violently, shrugging, crouching, hand on her aching heart. Rajdeep Sardesai rescued a foreigner from other reporters, to ask, "How are you feeling?" Arnab Goswami, of course, was kept in the studio. No one shouts "breaking news" louder than him.

When it was all over, after the commandos had gone home and the funerals had run their course, some passers-by were collected, handed candles, and in the glow of burning wax, victims were hugged, preferably Muslims, and asked again, for a final boost to TRPs: "How do you feel?"

Analytics on Analytics

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:14:00 +0000

I just searched the word 'Analytics' in top 4 search engines and the results are tabulated below:

Search Engine	No. of Results
Google	123,000,000
Yahoo	248,000,000
Live/MSN	3,440,000
Ask	13,900,000

Search Engine	Top 1 Search Result	Top 100th Result
Google	www.google.com/analytics/	www.maxxam.ca/
Yahoo	www.google.com/analytics/	www.load.com/loadstats
Live/MSN	www.google.com/analytics	www.txanalytics.com
Ask	www.google.com/analytics	www.neusciences.com/analytics.htm

It is interesting to know that

Yahoo has got highest number of results (almost double to that of Google's).
Google Analytics has gained enough appreciation from the world and stood as No.1 search in all the engines.
100th Result (10th page Last Result) is showing the analytics companies/services
Even the sponsored link for both Yahoo & Google stands the same.

In just a snapshot, Google Analytics has got enough popularity (or) rather the word 'Analytics' is integrated with Google... :)

These results make me proud, though.

Reason: I work for Google and I am part of Business Analytics (Not the Analytics Product)....

Sequoia Capital on Startups & The Economic Downturn Presentation

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:01:00 +0000

Very interesting presentation on recent US Economic Downturn... Made by

I liked the "Death Spiral" slide. Quite....uplifting!!!!

Here it is..

The Next Generation Analytics

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Modelling & Analytics have started creating significant impact in the business performance and ‘Analytics’ has become the mantra in the organisations. But why is Analytics gaining such huge importance in the organisations - Reasons are simple.

#1: So far companies were focusing on the improvement of ‘operational/manufacturing/supply chain’… efficiencies – but after reaching a certain point the ROI on the improvement of these things would be diminishing. So unless companies try new avenues of improving the efficiencies, they can’t create that difference. Here comes Analytics to help the companies in improving the top-line growth, optimizing spends, efficiently delivering what consumers want…etc

#2: With the huge impact created by the IT systems, each and every company is sitting on large chunk of data. Most of them do not know what to do, except plotting them on the graph and see visual correlations…

Here comes Analytics to help the organisations, to make the ‘real difference’, to provide insights and understanding, thereby the management can take informed decisions topped by confident actions.

As I mentioned, Business analytics is going to be the next major break-through step in the ever changing Business Intelligence domain. This I call as ‘Intelligent Business Analytics’ stage. The reason for pre-fixing the word ‘Intelligent’ is not to prove how efficiently the information is acquired, but how efficiently it is used and analysed.

Now the Million dollar question: How do you distinguish business analytics from business intelligence?

If Analytics is the science and art of analysis – like presenting data, numbers and doing statistical analysis; Business analytics goes well beyond – and it tries to apply the logic and mental thought processes to find meaningful implications in data.

This is the mental thought process that helps organisations in building capabilities that define intelligence – reasoning capabilities, predictions, solve business problems, innovate and learn.

Hence, in my view, business analytics is an interesting magical and powerful thing – but also very large and complex.

(Reason for this post: Most of my work involves Business Analytics and just penning few thoughts on the future of Analytics)

The GFE Factor

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:21:00 +0000

Recently I read the much hyped book, “It Happened in India”. Personally I didn’t like this book as most of the points claimed as the success factors in the book are attributed to ‘fooled by randomness’. But that’s just my opinion.

However, my biggest take away from the book came in the first 50 pages. It is the GFE Factor. Now coming to the point: What is this GFE Factor.. It is Greed – Fear – Envy.

The purchasing behaviour (irrational) of any consumer is linked to one of these three attributes.

You purchase something because it is being offered for a price cheaper than the market (Greed).
You purchase something because it is being sold for a price less than the market, tomorrow it might not (Fear).
You purchase something that you don’t need, because your neighbour has bought it for a cheap price.

So whether it’s Greed, Fear or Envy – you bought something.

Extending this logic beyond purchasing behaviour…. I believe this is the subtle factor that is driving people’s behaviour in life. Most of the human motivations/aspirations are bound to evolve from one of these factors.

I know…. People won’t accept this logic as every one tries to fit their motivations or aspirations into the rational set of framework. But beyond those frameworks, there will definitely be an irrational element. I am not trying to say that this GFE factor is bad, but I am just trying to give a thought to this irrational framework.

Let me know the views and counter views on this… :-)

The Kite Runner

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:14:00 +0000

Last time when I was coming from Hyderabad, I picked this book in the airport – The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini. Though this is his debut novel, this book edges on the border of perfection. So far, all the countless books that I read were taken a step back as this book outperformed the today’s literature standards. The novel has good bones and a strong impact. But its breath, its life lies in its narration and language.

The story spans through decades of transformation in Afghanistan starting from the dismissal of the monarchy until the fall of the Taliban. Everything I ever imagined about Afghanistan is painted as clear as a spotless canvas in this book. I have always wondered about life and political disorder in Afghanistan and Hosseini kills my inquisitiveness for good as he weaves a faultless fabric of human life in Afghanistan.

Series of things happen in The Kite Runner. Those things are terrible, on the gigantic human scale of things, but described with beauty and an aesthetic brutality. The central character, Amir, is the son of a wealthy merchant and his life is largely spent with Hassan - the son of his father’s servant and a close friend. In a malicious twist of fate, Amir observes a horrifying crime committed against Hassan but doesn’t come to Hassan’s protection. His choice not to speak up for Hassan haunts him a lifetime. In short, this sweeping story connects love, friendship, final betrayal and subsequent redemption.

I stumbled on myself perplexed with respect at the end of such an amusing reading ride. A spellbinding story, which would undoubtedly tear heart in pieces; probably a million times over.

Re-Entered the Blogging World

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:49:00 +0000

Though it was my New Year resolution to Blog continuously, it took so much time and deliberation to come out of that laziness and again start blogging. At least this time, I try to follow my own resolution.

Interestingly, this gap from October to March has been an interesting and enriching experience, where I had not only learnt the intricacies of the Business world, but also the way forward for my life…….

Will keep penning down all my random thoughts and let us see if any emerging patterns would be coming out….

Wish Me All the Best !!!

Travelling to Tirupati

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 10:45:00 +0000

Tonight I am leaving to Tirumala for taking the blessings of Lord Venkateswara. Will blog once I return back. Till then..... Happy Weekend!!!!

Right-of-Choice Vs Right Choice

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:21:00 +0000

Everyone accepts the fact that we have the right to choose and everyday we make 'n' number of choices - some choices are fun, some are difficult and some will hurt us. We enjoy that right of choice. However the problem doesn't exist there.

It is with the 'right choice' and this dilemma popped into my mind few months back (Post MBA syndrome). Am I taking the right choice or blindly enjoying the right of choice?

When I felt happy for the right of choice, I thought - Do I have the confidence to choose it wisely. Because at the end of the day, the wise choice can surely lead me more towards the awakened heart. I met many people who think they are free and they never tested this theory. They looked like flies for me, which are caught in a web. As they don't try to move, they convince themselves that they could - if they aspired to. What a big lie it is???

Without questioning or challenging the rationality of the choice, one cannot do the reality check and perpetuate the illusion forever.

Why am I thinking all these things?

Because the end result of my cognitive analysis says that I have not taken the Right choice in choosing my career.

Now it is time - to correct my choice and move ahead....And thats what I am doing....

Are you smelling something here????

Reflections on a heart-touching writing piece...

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:57:00 +0000

There was a big storm in a sleepy Indian village…soon followed by flash floods…and everything was lost to the fury of nature. A father and his daughter about 11 years old made their way through the stormy night. There was little hope as the water level was rising and the wind was strong. The two still managed to get closer to a lone bridge which was creaking and about to be washed away...any moment! …

The father looked at the sky to say his prayers …almost fighting with the God.The daughter looked calmly at her father…

The father ...almost in tears but with invincible surge to save his daughter somehow said..to his daughter…HOLD MY HAND TIGHTLY AS WE CROSS THE BRIDGE….

The daughter smiled….even as the lightning stuck and the noise of gushing water doused their voices..and she screamed back….DAD!! YOU HOLD MY HAND…

Father Said …WHY?

Daughter….BECAUSE IF I HOLD YOUR HAND …..I MAY LOOSE THE GRIP BUT IF YOU HOLD MY HAND YOU WILL NEVER LET ME GO…....

DAD!....I LOVE YOU!!
==

This simple and small piece of article reflects the enormities of love and highlights the purity in this bond - which is 'The-Closest-to-GOD'.

When a child grows up…she cognizes her father the way the father’s heart is. But not the way….the world perceives the opinion.

That is the strength and purity of the bond...

Yet another Dull Day

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 06:12:00 +0000

Yesterday...

Till evening, day was perfect. It happened all of a sudden. We finished our dinner in a near by restaurant and way back to home. One RTC bus was behind our car and there was not much traffic. All of a sudden one black car came at our back and started horn. So irritated with that, I gave right indicator and found a gap - signalled the bus driver behind and came into that space.

Banggggggggggggg.............

That Bus fellow rashed his bus and hit my car, without even considering my constant appeals of electronic & hand signals. By God's grace - Nothing happened to my family, but car was scractched on door and couple of other places. I got down the car and tried stopping that Bus driver. He didn't stop the bus and ovetook my car and left immediately, despite of the damage he created. It was dark and I couldn't see the bus number....

If a person, who is in responsible government driver position, is behaving with such an attitude, what happens to the common people. I know.. He can't be punished and he can't be even questioned........... What a system is this? Whom to ask? I have to spend 10K for my car repair. My hard earned money spending for some body's fault....

GOD!!!!!!! Are you listening????????????

Me & My Baby

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 08:41:00 +0000

Our recent photo taken infront of a temple in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad - taken by my better half..

Nothing much to be updated. Got bored with my present job. Don't know how life will be turned. Hopefully......... something exciting is going to happen in a few days.... Will keep you updated.

Save Earth!!

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 06:40:00 +0000

Today I received the following Presentation from a friend, which touched my heart a lot.

As people are realising about fulfilling their dreams, this is the time for realisation in terms of saving the earth also.

Please forward to as many as possible and increase awareness..

Letter Written in 2070

Btw... KayKay is back to Blogging.... :)

Post MBA syndrome

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:45:00 +0000

Started working..... All those memorable MBA days are like those flickr photos... come to the heart and sizzle for a second and run away. When I open the eyes, it is a different world... ofcourse..this is New..... but promising.. My expectations from the world are changed... and the world's expectations are also changed......The world expects me to perform more (High quality, less time) and ofcouse at a low cost......... Am I becoming the classic example of a 'low-cost-wage-arbitrage model'? Probably YES..... I still believe in the same tag line "Dare to dream and care to achieve".... And I dared to dream...... Achieved that dream...... But what is the final result of that dream..... Nothing much.... May be I should modify the tag line to "Dare to dream and care to achieve - with the most efficient result"....

Hmm.. Still I don't understand what is happening around me? Am I becoming one among those thousands of people...... Where is the distinction and where is the differentiation..... What am I going to achieve - for me as well as for the society...... Pch...... This post MBA syndrome is really painful and I haven't got the medicine for that........

Being in the top percentile throughout my academic as well as in my professional career, did I achieve what I wanted?? How do I know?? Or Do I really know even after some time.....

It is so painful.....Whom should I blame?? Me (or) The System???? I don't know...

Admission Info Sessions for ISB

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Sat, 05 May 2007 04:11:00 +0000

Please go through the above schedule and participate in the Info Session, in case you want to know more about ISB and the admission process.

The updated schedule can also be found here: MeetTheAdmissionOfficer

Baby Name....

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Fri, 04 May 2007 05:46:00 +0000

This is the unsolved question in my mind from the past 3 months. We initially planned to do the naming ceremony of our baby in her 3rd month in Tirupathi. But this terribly hot summer forced us not to take the baby out of Hyderabad and we had to plan for the 5th month.

Though we have already decided on the name of our baby, we are yet to find out the prefixing name that starts with “Jay”. As per our baby’s birth star (Sravana, which is also the Birth star of Lord Venkateswara), her name should start with ‘J”, (Pronounce it as “Jay”). We googled, yahooed, consulted hundreds of friends and relatives for the best name.

Finally these are the two names that we sorted out as prefixing names: Jaythri, Jayshna

If anyone can help us with getting some more good names…….. A treat is assured. :-)

Reality Versus Idea

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Wed, 02 May 2007 07:04:00 +0000

One interesting card from another blogger..
worth mentioning.....

But I feel something is missing...... What if ..........."A!=B"........

Article on Acquisition Integration approaches..

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Tue, 01 May 2007 09:09:00 +0000

Today I came across the following article while browsing through 12manage.com.... Interesting and thought of sharing with all..

Here it is...

This Summer I am feeling very hot in Hyderabad... Last year on the same date, I was in ISB - enjoying my orientation and Term-1 beautiful...green..ISB world...

Now the summer is irresistable. :-(

Taking a LoooooonG Break!!

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 04:07:00 +0000

From the past 15 days......... No work. This idleness has created lot of emptiness - emptiness because of missing those memorable days of hectic academic schedules, friends, assignments, group meetings, projects, On-bench-discussions, late night submissions and what not..........

Coming out of that world is like - a fish taken from a beautiful fresh water pond with flowers, leaves and warming sunshine - and putting on a hot, muddy, sandy desert.

Now.....Coming to my world – which is full of “Vuk-Vuk-Vungas”, which is the language of my cute, little angel – I am not getting time to do other things. Hectic life here too…. Changing diapers, playing with my baby and roaming out…..

Will be joining my company on 14th May…. Life will take another turn from that day….as…..Post MBA career……….

I am a Post Graduate...

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:00:00 +0000

The One year MBA stint in ISB has come to an end. Today was my last exam - "Global Issues in IT Management". I am an MBA from today. Graduation is on 7th April. So till then.... pack the bags......... I don't know whether I can handle this emptiness after a one year tough, rigorous, businest life...... Anyways....... I have lot of work to do....... I will be the assistant for my wife in changing dipers...till the time I join in my job...............

Will try to keep my blog updated with the personal & professional things............ If I am not blogging, that means - there is nothing to be updated... :-)

Our Sweet Angel...

gladikishore@gmail.com (Kishore) — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:18:00 +0000

Just wanna share with all my friends and well wishers. The Lord Almighty has blessed us and filled happiness in our lives...