Rural BPOs Become The Next Tech Hub

Not being able to find work after studies is not the worst nightmare for India’s rural youth: most of them have experienced it. But when 21-year-old Rajagopal finished his BCom in Anatapur, Andhra Pradesh, he didn’t give up hopes of finding a full-time job and go back to farming like his elder brothers. Without a fixed income, he wasn’t going to be able to support his family or pay back his education loan. That’s when he contacted Rural Shores, a firmthat had just set up a business process outsourcing (BPO) centre in Bagepalli district of Karnataka -- two hours from his home in AP. After an interview and a basic English test, Rajagopal was asked to join work the next day. “It was unbelievable. I didn’t know they were going to give me job”, says Rajagopal who now earns Rs 4,000 a month. “All of us were trained to speak English and work on computers. We sit here and sort out the payrolls of HDFC’s employees. We don’t need to go to Bangalore or Hyderabad for a job now.” Founded in 2008, Rural Shores Business Services is one of the largest providers of BPO services out of rural areas, offering jobs to 1,000 educated youth. Brainchild of former Ernst & Young partner VV Ranganathan, Mastek MD Sudhakar Ram, former MD of Xansa India Murali Vullaganti and CN Ram, president and group CIO of Essar Group, Rural Shores today serves over 20 clients including HDFC, Infosys, Wipro Technologies and Genpact. It aims to employ over 10,000 youth by 2014. “There is a lot of energy here. After offshoring, we are now moving towards ruralshoring. It offers great opportunity to the youth in rural areas, improves their skills and gives them a fixed salary”, says Vullaganti, CEO of Rural Shores. “Attrition rate at rural BPO centres is a measly 3-5% compared to 50% at urban centres and operational expenses are 30 to 40% lower. This has encouraged many companies to shift to rural areas. The idea has become bigger than any of us ever imagined.” In three years of business, Rural Shores has set up 10 centres across 7 states with investments from HDFC and Lokpal Capital Venture Fund. The firm plans to break even in 12 months. India for long has been the favourite destination for offshore BPO centres over the past several years. For a generation of young graduates in urban areas, the BPO sector had offered immense opportunities and stable pay. Drawn to this promise, many firms are now seeking ways to set up BPO centres in rural areas. The clearest indicator is some of the top software exporters in the country entering this space. In August this year, Wipro BPO, the BPO arm of Wipro Technologies had launched its first rural BPO centre at Manjakkudi Village in Tamil Nadu. In October, Infosys BPO had signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government for rural BPO centres in 22 districts. In the recent past, independent rural BPO initiatives like Desicrew, GramIT, Next Wealth, FOSTeRA and Tata Business Support Services have also got their feet wet. “Most youngsters you meet in an urban BPO would have migrated from a rural area in search of work. So, we thought, why not take the job to their v i l l a ge s a nd e m p l o y t h e m t here ? ”, asks Manish Dugar, who heads BPO o p e r at io n s at Wipro. While erratic telecom and power connections continue to be a challenge in rural areas, Dugar says low attrition rates and infrastructure costs make rural BPO centres an attractive option. Nasscom says IT-BPO firms plan to increase the total rural BPO employee base by more than 10 times over the next three years, from 5,000 now. So, where is this trend headed for? India may still be a strong player in the global BPO industry but HDFC Chairman, Deepak Parekh says that countries like China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines have already begun to eat into the pie. “India’s English speaking advantage is fast diminishing as countries like China are making huge efforts to increase their English speaking population. The BPO industry is costsensitive and clients will not hesitate to shift BPOs or move to countries that offer services at lower costs. One answer lies in encouraging more rural BPOs”, he said. While most rural BPO centres tend to be cost-effective, the journey has not been a smooth one for initiatives such as the rural Shores.. “It has not been an easy ride. Rural Shores is yet to make any profits,” says Sudhakar Ram, co-founder of Rural Shores and Mastek MD. Country Roads WHY RURAL BPOS? The IT-BPO companies are moving towards rural areas due to factors like availability of untapped talent, affordable real estate, lower labour and operational costs THE FACTS Rural BPOs contribute more than $10 million towards India’s IT-BPO revenues The rural BPO employee base of 5000 (FY09) is expected to grow by more than 10 times in FY12 The attriton rate at rural BPOs are between 3-5% compared to a high of 50% in urban BPOs The prime advantage of rural BPOs is that employee costs are half that of urban BPOs and the overall operating costs are 30 to 40% below urban BPO.

BSNL launches Choose Your Mobile Number Scheme

State-owned telecom services provider BSNL launched Choose Your Mobile Number Scheme across the country. The scheme would provide a new customer with vast range of over one lakh numbers to choose from. The scheme provides access through broadband and also through SMS. Customers can log on to the BSNL website and click on "choose your mobile number" option. "Those who do not have broadband connection may opt for SMS option through which they will get ten numbers on mobile from which they can choose desired number,". The scheme was first launched in Andhra Pradesh on November 1 and it received very good response. The sale of mobile connections under this scheme has crossed 1.2 lakh. "Enthused by the success of the scheme in Andhra Pradesh, BSNL has now decided to launch the scheme all over the country." "BSNL expect that the scheme will attract more than 20 lakh new subscribers."

Facebook gives Timeline to iPhone users

In addition to the social network's new profile design, version 4.1 of the iPhone app provides mobile users access to their friend lists, subscribers, and subscriptions. Facebook says the app also makes it easier to view, upload, and comment on photos. Facebook says iPad support for mobile Timeline will be coming soon. Timeline, which shows all the updates a person has added to Facebook since they joined the site, was rolled out to Web browsers and Android devices worldwide on Thursday. The update may help the iPhone app retake its lead in popularity for accessing the social network. Facebook for Android now has 58.3 million average daily users compared with an average of 57.4 million daily users who use the iPhone app to read the site, according to stats complied by AppData.

TouchFire makes iPad Easier to Type

Even if you love the iPad, you're probably not keen to write your next novel using its on-screen virtual keyboard. You may not be thrilled to type up a lengthy email with it, either. Steve Isaac felt the same way. A Seattle-based software designer who worked on an early tablet at computing startup Go in the 1990s, Isaac was delighted when the iPad came out last year. He loved its svelteness, battery life and wireless connectivity. "The iPad was amazing,'' he says. "It just did everything super, super well.'' Well, almost everything. Though its touch-screen keyboard was way ahead of what he'd seen on past tablets, he felt it still wasn't great for typing. And wireless keyboards that work via Bluetooth seemed too bulky. So Isaac got to work on a way to make the iPad easier to type on, a stretchy silicone keyboard called the TouchFire that sits atop the tablet's on-screen keyboard when the device is turned on its side. Isaac isn't unique in coming up with this type of device, but his invention has garnered an intense amount of support through Kickstarter, a website where entrepreneurs and artists solicit funding for their projects and often give rewards in exchange, such as a limited-edition poster or first version of a product. In Isaac's case, he turned to the site to raise money to turn his prototype into a real device, offering the first run of TouchFires to Kickstarter backers. His effort raised $201,400 by the time it ended last week. That was more than 20 times the $10,000 that he and his business partner had hoped to snag. The TouchFire's birth as a consumer product shows the growing importance of sites such as Kickstarter. They offer a new way to finance bright ideas and usher them to the masses. Kickstarter visitors can search through a bevy of proposals for everything from graphic novels to consumer electronics, coming from creators who must meet their stated funding goal in a specified period of time in order to actually use the money. About 45 percent of the projects meet or exceed their goals, Kickstarter said. This year, site visitors pledged about $79 million to projects that either succeeded, including Isaac's, or were still in the process of soliciting funds. Not long after the iPad came out in April 2010, Isaac started fashioning prototypes by cutting up transparent silicone laptop keyboard covers (the kind you use to protect a laptop's keyboard from dirt) and thin sheets of silicone. He had a number of stipulations for the TouchFire: It should somehow work with the iPad's existing on-screen keyboard and have springy "keys'' that you could actually feel. It had to be small, light and unobtrusive. It needed to respond to your finger taps, but, as on a hardware keyboard, be insensitive enough that you could rest your fingers on the keys without triggering the typing of random letters. Last September, he connected with Brad Melmon, an industrial designer who was also based in Seattle. The duo refined Isaac's original idea and created the TouchFire company together. A TouchFire prototype Isaac recently brought to The Associated Press' San Francisco office looked deceptively simple. On the surface, it appeared to be just a flexible keyboard cover with some rigid plastic on the sides. But a closer look revealed small bumps on the underside of the keypad's silicone keys _ bumps that provide typing fingers with the proper amount of resistance. Magnets on the sides and the bottom adhere it to the magnetic portions of the face of the iPad 2, allowing it to sit right on top of the on-screen virtual keyboard without sliding around. If you use the original iPad, a non-slip layer on the bottom of the TouchFire helps keep it in place. Typing with it was fairly comfortable, though it would take some getting used to its squishy feel. Not everyone is convinced, though, of the need for the new product. Gartner Research analyst Ken Dulaney is skeptical that the TouchFire will appeal to the masses, saying it doesn't really seem different from the scads of wireless keyboards already available for the tablet. "I can tell you, you just need to go down the Apple Store to see how littered the market is for keyboards for iPads,'' he says. Indeed, there are tons of options available to iPad users, from cases with built-in keyboards to stand-alone keyboards that sit next to the iPad. Isaac is optimistic, though. He and Melmon are deciding on a manufacturer to make the device, and Isaac said they're likely to ship the TouchFires to donors in January. After that, they hope to make the devices available for sale as soon as possible.

As smartphones get popular, users have to get acquainted with a new tech term – software updates. Updates can not only quash bugs but add a whole new bunch of features to your handset. For instance, when Google updated Android from version 2.1 to 2.2, it not only brought in a significant performance improvements, but also allowed users to convert their phones into Wi-Fi hotspots. Similarly, Nokia's Anna update to Symbian brought in new icons and a QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode. Yep, Software updates are no longer about small fixes but big ones. Speaking of big updates, rarely have there been so many on different platforms at the same time as there are today. Be it iOS, Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile or even the relatively new Bada OS, there is an update lurking in the wings. And all of them add new features and functionalities to the devices on which they are available. UPDATE, BUT WITH CAUTION While they do come packed with goodies, software updates come with their own set of headaches – long downloads, multiple reboots, the need to often connect your device to a computer, and at times even wiping the complete data and information off your device. What's more, updates are not exactly democratic – they often tend to work differently on different devices. So while a relatively highend phone might end up working a whole lot better after an update, an older device might slow down. There is the classic question of whether you even want these updates – many users are simply content with what they get. As a friend who uses a positively ancient Nokia N70 said, “It makes calls brilliantly, gets mail efficiently. I require nothing else!” But if you need a bit more from a mobile device, you should start looking at what's currently available to download. ANDROID 4.0 THIS IS Google's most ambitious overhaul of Android, blending both smartphone & tablet versions. It has a whole new interface with new fonts, a better browser and support for NFC (to allow transfer of information by just tapping two NFC devices together). Also on the agenda are better support for voice commands, better widgets and improvements across the board. Still, if you are content with Android 2.3 and are used to the standard Android smartphone interface, you might want to wait before you upgrade. The update depends on the manufacturer in most cases. AVAILABLE FOR: Most high-end devices running Android 2.3, especially if there is a dual core processor lurking beneath the hood. WE WISH: It was instantly available on all devices that have the hardware to support it. WINDOWS PHONE 7.5 WHEN IT was launched, Windows Phone 7 won rave reviews for its brilliant tile-based interface, which was a radical departure from what people had seen on iOS and Android. Now, with its first major upgrade, the OS adds multi-tasking, live tiles, Twitter integration, better browsing and praise be, copy and paste. Yes, some old frailties like absence of file transfer over Bluetooth remain, but you will not miss it too much thanks to superb cloud integration, and that magical interface remains as good as ever (with better battery life too). If you have an early Windows Phone 7 device, miss this update at your peril. AVAILABLE FOR: All Windows Phone 7 devices WE WISH: It brought all functionalities to older Windows Phone devices — the Wi-Fi hotspot creation ability is not available to older devices. And why no cut and paste? iOS 5 ONE OF the most significant updates to the operating system of the iPhone and iPad, iOS5 brings in many changes, including an Androidstyle notification bar to keep you up to speed with what's happening, a Newsstand app for magazines and publications and cloud syncing via iCloud. Throw in some browser improvements (tabbed browsing in Safari at last), Twitter integration and the promise that future updates to the OS could happen without having to use iTunes, and you can see why we think this is a must-have upgrade for all those using iOS devices. AVAILABLE FOR: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch (3rd & 4th generation), iPad & iPad 2 (Older devices may not get all features). WE WISH: It was a much lighter download (it is over 500 MB). It should have added Facebook integration too. SYMBIAN BELLE IT HAS been the season of updates for Symbian. Hot on the heels of Anna (which brought in a better keyboard, browser and icons) comes Belle. And while it might not have got the kind of hype that Anna did, it does bring some improvements in — resizeable widgets, more homescreens, a better status bar and the muchtalked-about support for NFC. We must confess, however, that it did not seem as big a step forward as Anna did — the interface remains largely the same. If you are not a NFC lover, you could give this update a miss — Anna is pretty good on its own. That said, this is also one of the smoothest updates to install. AVAILABLE FOR: The Belle update is expected to come to Nokia N8, Nokia C7, Nokia E6, Nokia E7, Nokia C6-01, and Nokia X7. WE WISH: Better social networking apps had been thrown into the mix – this is an area where Symbian still lags behind iOS & Android. BADA OS 2 IT HAS been derided as the poor mans Android, but Bada has been inching up the popularity charts because it delivers a decent experience on powerful smartphones that don't cost too much. The update gets Bada a bit closer to Android with better support for Flash and HTML 5, huge multi-tasking improvements and support for NFC. AVAILABLE FOR: All devices running Bada OS — though features will vary from device to device. WE WISH: We did not have to use Samsung Kies to search for and install the update. BEFORE YOU UPDATE BE SURE to read what the update offers. It is boring in most cases, but be patient — you need to know exactly what is going to happen to your device after the update. IF YOU'RE content with your device, stick with your current OS. It is unlikely to harm you — do check, however, if the company continues to support it (they generally do). IN MOST cases, updates work best with relatively newer models — older models sometimes do not get all the new features and may get bogged down. BACK UP your data. Most updates try to preserve user data (contacts, photos, videos), but they can go wrong. CHARGE YOUR phone before updating (or plug in the charger) — updates need battery. IF YOU value the official warranty, get updates from official sources — unofficial ones can work but they do tend to void warranty and support.

Data Servers to Heat up Homes.....

To satisfy our ever-growing need for computing power, many technology companies have moved their work to data centers with tens of thousands of power-gobbling servers. Concentrated in one place, the servers produce enormous heat. The additional power needed for cooling them - up to half of the power used to run them - is the steep environmental price we have paid to move data to the so-called cloud. Researchers, however, have come up with an intriguing option for that wasted heat: putting it to good use in people's homes. Two researchers at the University of Virginia and four at Microsoft Research explored this possibility in a paper presented at the Usenix Workshop on Hot Topics in Cloud Computing. The paper looks at how the servers - though still operated by their companies - could be placed inside homes and used as a source of heat. The authors call the concept the "data furnace." They acknowledge that it is more likely that data furnaces would be placed first in basements of office and apartment buildings, not in individual homes. But as a 'thoughtprovoking exercise,' the authors give homes their attention. If a home has a broadband internet connection, it can serve as a micro data center. One, two or three cabinets filled with servers could be installed where the furnace sits and connected with the existing circulation fan and ductwork. Each cabinet could have slots for, say, 40 motherboards - each one counting as a server. In the coldest climate, about 110 motherboards could keep a home as toasty as a conventional furnace does. The rest of the year, the servers would still run, but the heat generated would be vented to the outside. They suggest that only if the local temperature reached 95 degrees or above would the machines need to be shut down to avoid overheating. A conventional data center must invest about $400 a year to run each server, or about $16,000 for a cabinet filled with 40 of them.

Eight Tips to Top Google Search

The best website in the world won't do you any good if no one looks at it. And there are companies out there to help you rise to the top of Google's hitlist. Better yet, they're not just for businesses. The fact is anyone can post something online, but there is some talent involved in getting Google's attention. Companies that help you do that are versed in the art of SEO (search engine optimization). Private individuals are increasingly focused on these services as they are finding they can't reach a large audience unless they scoot up the hitlists. There's no reason to shell out a lot of money for SEO services though. There's a lot you can do to boost your site's presence. 'It's really not that difficult. It's not magic,' says SEO expert Heiner Hemken, who runs a website on the topic. There are two areas of focus. 'On Page' SEO is targeted at the appearance of the site. 'Off Page' SEO looks at everything in the site's background.Rene Wienholtzk, head of technology at internet search engine Strato, offers six tips to get more eyes on your private website. Look for right keywords 'On Page SEO starts with the right choice of keywords,' says Wienholtz. Just a few choice keywords stored in the metadata of the HTML document are better than many unimportant words, because search engines filter out everything above a certain limit. 'You should have a maximum of 10, but it's better to use five keywords that absolutely need mention.' Pick the right domain name The choice of the right internet address is Wienholtz's second tip. Always try to pick a domain name that says something about the site's content Choosing the title Every website should have a meaningful title and a description that is included in the metadata under the 'description' title. Creating unique content The website should have unique content, as well as text that includes the keywords. Search engines today will not be fooled by tricks like the one where hidden words appear in the same colour as the background Write image description Include alternative text descriptions of images and videos. These should be designated with alt, for alternative text, in the HTML code. Build XML map To save search engines some work, always set up an XML map. This map, which can be created in a sitemap generator, lays out the internal structure of the website. This is key for web offerings that include dynamic content, like technology from Ajax, which cannot always be picked up by search engines. To upload the sitemap, Google and Bing both have a link in their webmaster area. 'If a sitemap is available, then the robots can work their way through that easily,' explains Wienholtz, referring to the crawler software that feeds data to search engines. Go for SEO tools Web hosts like Strato, where people can rent server space for their own website, also offer SEO tools to their clients. Such tools allow webmasters to check their contents versus those of other sites, such as those that use the same keywords. 'This competition analysis can give you ideas for your own optimization and let you learn from the competition,' says Joerg Lammers, spokesman for German internet provider 1&1. 'You have to do this kind of analysis permanently, otherwise you quickly lose relevance and end up way behind.' Avoid common keywords If you're working with common keywords - like vacation, car or computer - then you have next to no chance of getting your site up to the top spot. 'But if you find a niche, then you have a chance to move up to the top,' explains Hemken. There are also commercial SEO options, like Off-Page SEO, which focus on building up links that lead back to your own site. Those are a central factor in Google's PageRank, its central algorithm for weighting the popularity of a site.

How to Send Large Files, But Not as Attachments

As you mostly know by now, the major Webmail providers limit your attachments to 25 MB, and many corporate email servers have much lower limits because they don't want their servers bogged down with attachments. To get around this problem, a number of file sending service providers have been created. Instead of using an attachment, they send a link in your email that connects you to their service, where you can download the file outside of your email stream. Each of the service providers have different limits of their own when it comes to how big a file that they can handle. With Zipsend, you have to upgrade to their paid ($50 a year) Pro version to be able to send up to a 2 GB file. This is the same price point and size that YouSendIt.com offers for their plan, which is no coincidence since Zipsend is an OEM of YouSendIt. Two GBs For Free But there are two free services that can handle up to 2 GB files: Sendthisfile.com and Dropsend.com. If you don't send big files often, it might be worth using one of these services. So why bother with Zipsend? Well, if you want to use the cloud completely for your file transfers, there are limitations on the browser in terms of how big a file it can upload and download. Most Web browsers restrict file uploads at 2GB. And IE8 restricts file downloads to 4GB, while the restriction in Firefox is for files smaller than 4GB. For the biggest files, you need special client software to do the transfers. SendThisFile has one, as does Zipsend, but both are only available for Windows clients. The Zipsend client is actually WinZip, which may be a reason to go with their service if that is a utility that you use frequently. YouSendIt and Dropbox.com both have Mac versions, and the latter can upload as big a file to their cloud drive as you have storage capacity to take it on, provided you use their desktop client. And if you are looking for another service for particularly large files, you might want to check out TrendMicro's SafeSync. Like Dropbox, SafeSync can store a file as big as your storage bucket allows.

How To Ace Your Technical Interview

Job candidates have clear expectations about the work that needs to be done during the job search to ensure success. They define their career goals. Resumes are updated. Interview skills are sharpened. Yet, as a recruiter who helps job seekers find software engineering positions, I see job candidates pay too little attention to one particular aspect of the job search: the technical interview. The technical interview is an opportunity for employers to put your hard-earned skills to the test. Technical interview questions can range across disciplines and include puzzles, problems and other questions designed to make you think hard on the spot. In my experience, job candidates find technical interviews extremely time consuming and stressful. And, to be honest, many job candidates struggle through the first few technical interviews and reduce their chances of landing what may be a great job. These nine keys to success can help you when faced with a technical interview. 1. Wear What’s Right The tech industry has a unique culture, one that is in stark contrast to other fields. The majority of technology companies are very relaxed, casual, and creative. They also favor personality and fit over snappy dress. When going for the technical interview, I tell my candidates to be clean, neat and presentable – buttoned down shirt, pressed pants and clean shoes. That being said, I do not suggest suits, and ties or jackets are optional as some companies may think you are conservative (and not a good culture fit). Overall, you need to feel comfortable and relaxed as the interview process can be stressful enough. 2. Don’t Wing It The activities that occur in most technical interviews are not practiced every day. Skills become rusty, especially if they’re ones that are different than what you do on the job. Some people decide to ignore this rust and just wing it, but this is a recipe for disaster. Practice and preparation are essential, and your recruiter should serve as your coach and guide. If not, you may need a new recruiter. 3. Communicate Effectively Communication is key in the technical interview. Interviewers don’t know your skill set unless you make it clear through your answers. Don’t leave the interviewers with any doubts about how skilled you really are, and avoid evasive or incomplete answers. Follow up with a “Did that answer your question?” to ensure you are on the same page with the interviewer. Ask good questions throughout the interview to engage with the interviewer. Work hard with your recruitment advisor, so you can be sure to ask the best questions. 4. Sharpen Your Technical Skills Many job candidates find their information and skills aren’t fresh enough for employers. Companies assess skills in a different way now, and they expect job candidates to evolve along with the market. Job candidates need to have a technical toolbox that suits the market and can get them through a rigorous technical interview. 5. Bone Up on the Fundamentals Make sure you review the fundamentals and computer science basics. Review core concepts and theories that are essential to good practice. The interview process is designed to gauge your technical and problem-solving skills, so take the time to refresh yourself on concepts and theories. 6. Try Brain Teasers Run through some brain teasers and logic problems in advance of your interview, as you may be asked to do one. These challenges are given as a way to assess how you think and work through a problem. Oftentimes, the solution is not the main goal; they are looking for skills such as confidence, tenacity, and persistence. Websites like CodingHorror, GrokCode, and ProgrammerPuzzlers offer free online puzzles for technical practice. 7. Work with the Interview Team Interviewers also screen your ability to interact and communicate in a team setting. Be sure to connect with the interviewer and work with them to show that you have adequate team skills. You want to remain confident and calm even if frustrated or defeated, so it’s best to keep composed and positive. 8. Know Your Close It is important to close the interview properly before you part ways with the interviewer. You want to express your level of interest in the job, so this is your chance to say how you feel about the position and your experience. Ask key follow-up questions to understand next steps, the process and the timeframe. 9. Continue to Create a Positive Impression The interview process is still about creating strong, positive impressions. I encourage my candidates to send a thank-you email within 24 hours. Another good follow-up is to offer a solution to an unsolved problem you were given during the interview. This goes over very well and can potentially save you if you were off track in the interview because it demonstrates that you care enough to give it additional time and attention. It also allows the employer to evaluate more of your work. Technical interviews are a major challenge for job candidates searching for the best technology jobs. Too many job candidates treat them casually at the beginning of their job search. Winging it is a bad idea. Preparation is essential. Use your time to practice, learn to communicate effectively, and sharpen your technical skills.

E-Commerce May Give BPO A Leg-Up

As Indian e-retailers gain scale and look to expand, they might have to outsource a part of their business processes. The trend has just started in a small way. Two days before Valentine’s Day in 2008, the online payment mechanism of gifting solutions company Ferns N Petals crashed. Pawan Gadia, who heads the company’s e-commerce division, was in for a tough time since the runup to Valentine’s Day is one of the peak business periods for the firm. “If users were not able to buy online, business was surely going to take a hit,” recalls Gadia. In a desperate attempt to salvage a part of the online business, he and his small team of about 15 people began calling up customers. He was able to tackle the crisis but vowed never to let the situation recur and resolved to set up a call centre. What developed out of an emergency, is slowly becoming a necessity. Indian e-commerce companies, in a small way, are emerging as a new source of revenue for business process outsourcing firms. The trend follows the footsteps of US based e-commerce giants like Amazon and eBay, who have traditionally outsourced a large part of their back-end and transaction processing to Indian BPO service providers. Businesses from India’s e-commerce firms will also heft to the revenues of local BPO firms which have seen high-end voice based processes moving out to comparatively cheaper locations like Philippines. India’s cater to a significant portion of customer care services for global retail giants in the form of customer interaction services including of call centre, pre and post sales support, telemarketing and help desk functions. However, much of the effort in setting up a call centre is being done in-house mainly because most e-commerce firms are still in the startup stage. Scaling up is likely to lead to more outsourcing. As startups get busy improving their customer service to battle competition, more job and money are likely to trickle down to BPO service providers. “The move towards e-business is helping demand,” said Deepak Patel, CEO of Aditya Birla Minacs, the BPO arm of the $4-billion diversified group company Aditya Birla Nuvo. “Emerging e-commerce companies are a big opportunity for the BPO industry but it’s early to quantify the business yet,” he added. Often, smaller companies do not have enough volumes to run full time BPOs. “That’s where BPO service providers can offer services where we leverage with multiple customers,” said Patel. While creating a backup system can be a major driver for outsourcing work to BPO firms, e-retailers, have also realised that there are upselling opportunities when talking to a customer on phone. Plus, with customers from smaller cities and towns beginning to go online, the need for voice based support is growing in India. “We discovered that customers were delighted when we called them back and helped them buy,” added Gadia. Now, the startup company has over 50 people working at the call centre which brings in nearly 25% of the company’s e-commerce revenues. Gadia is adding 4 to 5 people to the team every month. “First time buyers need a bit of handholding,” he said. The company also looks at the data available with them and makes calls to the customer reminding them of special occassions. Naaptol.com, another e-commerce site, operates a 1,000 seater call centre and is planning to add around 400 people over the next three to six months. The online retail shop has been doing business for about two years now and sends out nearly 7,000 parcels everyday to customers. With more customers buying online for the first time, call centres have become an essential part of their operations. The $10 billion Indian e-commerce market is only a fraction of the US online retail market which reached $175 billion in 2007 and is projected to grow to $335 billion by 2012 according to Forrester research. With rising Internet penetration in the country, customers have begun buying online and e-commerce is growing significantly. In 2011, according to one study, the ecommerce market grew 47 % to reach its present size. Looking at the potential, investors have begun throwing money into them. Over $200 million has been poured into Indian e-commerce start-ups in the last years. Not everybody though wants to outsource the work to a BPO service provider as experience has taught them otherwise. For Kunal Bahl, the co-founder of Snapdeal.com, the learning came the hard way. “We tried out this as a pilot. The quality of execution was extremely poor and we decided to have a call centre in house.” Bahl, who heads one of the fastest growing startups will need 100 people at the call centre by March. “We are not big believers in having a very large call centre because if you are getting too many calls, you are not doing something right,” added Bahl. However, as business grows, it is imperative to have customer support centres, Bahl feels. New e-commerce firms that want to focus on core operations are likely to outsource customer care, order processing, invoice processing, finance and accounts, among others.

Your Next Computer Intel’s Ultrabook

A new type of laptop is headed our way. It’s ultra-thin, ultra-light, ultra-desirable and not that expensive either. Harsimran Julka and Hitesh Raj Bhagat have the details on Intel’s new wonder child Worldwide PC shipments are expected to grow by just 2.8% in 2011, a downgrade from the previous forecast of 4.2%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC). This is worrying for PC makers and especially Intel, the world’s largest manufacturer of PC chips. This is why Intel devised a whole new platform of notebooks, designed from the ground up to be sleeker, lighter and more desirable. WHAT EXACTLY IS AN ULTRABOOK? The word Ultrabook is an Intel trademark. Ultrabooks are ultra-light and sleek notebooks with Intel's Core i5 and i7 processors, they weigh less than 1.4kg and are less than 20 mm thick (see Intel’s Ultrabook checklist on the right). The form factor was devised by Intel as a strong competitor to Apple’s Macbook Air, but at a cheaper price point. Paul Otellini, Intel’s president and CEO sums it up nicely; “The Ultrabook is our most satisfying and complete computer experience. It's lighter, sleeker and lasts long with a single charge so that you can carry it almost anywhere.” THE ULTRABOOK RATIONALE Not only does the Ultrabook form factor have to compete with the MacBook Air, but also with the tablet, which a lot of consumers are seeing as a viable, everyday alternative to a bulky notebook computer. Other desirable features include a lower power consumption (Ultrabooks use ULV or ultra low voltage Intel processors) and a design that has to be at least 20mm or less. “We’re fairly optimistic about Ultrabooks and have noticed an increased demand for this sort of form factor,” said Rajesh Thadani, director - consumer, Lenovo India. “It’s an evolution of the traditional laptop and a potential game-changer,” he added. “With an evolving IT market in India, we are confident that Ultrabooks will be a worthwhile investment for any consumer,” said S Rajendran, chief marketing officer, Acer India, in a conversation with ET. THE ROAD AHEAD “Intel's focus is to make Ultrabooks capture about 40% of the worldwide laptop market by next year”, said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group at Intel. This was at Intel’s Developer Forum 2011. “The market share of Ultrabooks will increase more in 2013, when Intel plans to launch its ‘Haswell’ processor. Haswell will offer more than 20 times reduction in connected standby power," Eden said. In 2012, Ultrabooks will come with Windows 8, Microsoft’s newest operating system which uses a grid of live tiles as the start menu. Since the OS is optimised for touch, Ultrabooks with touchscreens or those with detachable screens (an Ultrabook-tablet hybrid) are being developed. Going forward, Ultrabooks will offer a built in anti-theft technology from McAfee. A stolen or lost Ultrabook will be unusable by anyone other than the actual owner. Prices are also expected to drop further to $800 from the current $1,000. Acer Aspire S3 Review Officially the first ultrabook to launch in India, the Aspire S3 is a handsome, wellbuilt machine. It has a super-bright LED backlit display, multi-touch trackpad, 6 hour battery life and all the features you would expect. Acer pulled off a neat trick with the S3 – by including a 20GB SSD and 320GB hard drive, it manages ultra-fast boot & wake from sleep with extended storage for all your files while keeping costs low. Thanks to the Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM and Intel HD graphics, the performance on tap is more than enough for all your HD multimedia and office needs. Compared to the Lenovo, the Acer has better build quality with tighter shut lines. However – and this could be a dealbreaker for some – the tapered design, black bar above the keyboard, the keyboard itself and the overall shape itself is very similar to the MacBook Air. The brushed aluminum on the lid is beautiful, but we wished there was more of it, especially on the palm rest and underside. Plus the cursor keys are absurdly small. Overall a solid device if you don’t mind the physical similarity with the Air. Lenovo IdeaPad U300s Review The U300s marks a new design language for Lenovo’s IdeaPad – and it is refreshing. Unlike the Acer, the U300s has an even thickness throughout and clad in sandblasted aluminium (both top and bottom). With the lid closed, the machine resembles a book or folder. For storage, it includes a 128GB SSD – so not as much space as the Acer, but it is faster, and there are no moving parts, so your data is more secure. Hands down, the U300s also has a better keyboard than the Acer – layout, key size and general feel of the keys is better. Performance and battery life is similar to the Acer – since most of the specs are the same. Unlike the Acer which has all ports at the back, the U300s is more conventional and has ports on both sides. However, the U300s scores extra points for including a USB 3.0 port for faster data transfers. It’s not all good though — some of the aluminum edges are quite sharp and the airflow design is noisy – air is sucked through the keyboard and blown out the back, but with the fan on full tilt, it sounded like a mini jet engine. Plus, the keyboard is not backlit, something which the Acer S3 could do with as well.

QR Codes(Quick Response Codes)

What are QR Codes QR codes (or Quick Response Codes) are two-dimensional codes that can hold thousands of characters of information. Though they look like standard bar codes, they are actually quite different. QR codes can store much more data including url links, location information, and text. Basically, a QR code can store any information you add to it. Once a mobile device takes a picture of the code, the information will be automatically transmitted to the device. The transmitted information can include contact details about a business, personal details, movie previews, or any other type of media related content. How do you create a QR Code? There are many websites that will allow you to easily create a QR Code. You can either type “QR Code Generator” into a web browser or use these recommended sites: Kaywa – Kaywa was designed by Datamatrix. I used this website to create the QR codes above. It took me all of 10 seconds. You can use Kaywa to generate QR codes that link to a website or web page, a text, or SMS. Kerem Erkan – This site will allow you to customize your codes. It offers more in-depth options and more creativity. QR Code Uses: The uses for QR codes are endless, especially for marketing purposes. Consider these possibilities: 1. Facebook – You can direct customers to a page which leads them to “Like” your fan page or follow you on Twitter. With Facebook “Like” generating QR codes created from sites like Likify, you can create a custom page that includes the option to “Like” your fan page. You can also direct people to your Facebook welcome page. 2. Blogs – Direct customers or prospects to a specific blog post. 3. Element of surprise – Use QR codes to hide information that can only be revealed by scanning the code. 4. Articles, ebooks, videos. – You can direct scanners to any type of related content with QR codes. 5. Custom landing pages 6. Business cards 7. Directions to your business 8. Mp3 audio downloads 9. Customer reviews 10. Email subscriber page 10. Contests 11. Product Demonstrations

SEO Then and Now

SEO Then and Now SEO is an industry that is changing all the time and if you don’t keep up you’ll get left behind. In the earlier days of SEO it was more about technology and it was the tech people/developers creating optimization strategies. Now SEO has become a marketing function since it’s more about building a brand. Let’s take a look back at the SEO landscape circa 2004 to see how far the search and SEO industry has come in less than a decade. It Was All About Links. The focus wasn’t so much on creating content but more about building links, and lots of them. SEO professionals participated in tactics that are now considered to be black hat. This wasn’t because we were trying to be sneaky, but because we really didn’t know better. In fact, people were hired for full time link exchanging jobs. Imagine that? It Wasn’t All About Google. In 2004 Google was certainly a big player in the search game, but it wasn’t the King that it is now. People were still frequenting Yahoo!, Ask, and even AOL to find information. There Were No (or Very Little) Google SEO Tools. Tools that we now take for granted like the Google Keyword Research Tool and Google Analytics didn’t exist. Previously, you had to spend a lot of money for analytics information or simply rely on hit counters (remember those?) that were on the bottom of a website to see how many people had visited. When it came to keyword research we were just left to guess and assume what keywords and keyword phrases to use. Basically, we had a lot less free data and information to work off of. There was social media. MySpace was really growing in popularity around that time and Mark Zuckerberg had recently launched Facebook. However, it hadn’t been taken over by marketers and was mostly a place for college students to “poke” each other, whatever that means. If you wanted to share something, you still copied and pasted a link into an email. Basically, social media and SEO didn’t really mesh the way that they do now. Ranking Factors Were Different. Search engine rankings didn’t jump up and down and remained pretty steady back in the day. They weren’t personalized as they are now and there was much less focus on local search. As you can see SEO has become much more advanced in the last seven or so years. The focus has shifted and is now concentrated on creating content to build a brand. Quality is much more important than quantity. Now that we’ve looked back, let’s try and look ahead. What do you think SEO will look like in five, ten years?

TV remote

A funny thing will soon happen to your TV remote: Not only will it get smarter and more usable, but it will also soon feel more natural to use. With controls based on gestures rather than directional buttons, the new controls will change the way viewers find and interact with content.

Think about the way the computer business changed after moving to a graphical user interface. For most people my age, the first experience with point and click probably came in the school computer lab, where Apple educational discounts led a whole generation to interact with menus, applications and folders with the click of a mouse. (Even back then, Apple was trying to nab users early in life.) By comparison, the control menu and cursor-based navigation of MS-DOS seemed prehistoric.

The adoption of graphical user interfaces for display and the mouse for control fundamentally changed not just how people used their computers, but opened up new applications and capabilities that previously weren’t available. The same type of revolution is soon to be underway on the television, as a new generation of remote controls and mobile apps are changing the way viewers discover, navigate and interact with content.

The latest indication of the evolving market came with the launch of Hillcrest Labs’ newest portfolio of products for CE manufacturers Wednesday. The release of its Motion Engine and Sensor Modules can be introduced into the hardware products that they make, and the company’s new Scoop pointer, which replaces the consumer-facing Loop product, will also be offered to manufacturers. The announcements come after Hillcrest raised $5.5 million earlier this year.

Most consumers got their first taste of point-and-click navigation and gesture-based controls with the launch of the Nintendo Wii. The Wii remote revolutionized gaming and opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for the console market, as it brought intuitive motion control into play. Later, Microsoft took the concept of gesture-based navigation a step further with Xbox Kinect, allowing users to grab, control and swipe through their content with the motion-control system.

Most recently, streaming set-top box maker Roku unveiled a new controller that includes Hillcrest Labs’ motion-sensing technology. Right now, that controller is used primarily for a new generation of casual gaming apps — like Angry Birds — that have been introduced on its boxes, but we could imagine its use being extended to controlling app navigation with an update to its outdated UI.

Meanwhile, the introduction of motion sensors and accelerometers in mobile handsets has introduced a whole new world of interactive gaming and augmented reality for iOS and Android devices. Users are becoming comfortable with the use of mobile phones and tablets for controlling their TV sets, and iPad and iPhone apps with remote functionality built in have become increasingly popular among operators like Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and Cablevision.

While the greatest utility from these mobile apps is often the ability to search content through touch-based mobile keyboards, they also offer up their own point-and-click navigation capability. That enables operators not just to display the same boring old program grid that shows up through their TV set-top box, but to develop more interactive guides and user experiences.

Changing the TV remote to be gesture-based will open up more interactive experiences on the TV. No longer trapped by the up-down-left-right navigation that comes from traditional remotes, operators will be able to create improved user interfaces. Finally, being able to point and click on the TV screen could also allow broadcasters and advertisers to create more immersive applications as part of their shows and advertisements.

How to Download Files to Email or Dropbox Directly

DropboxDropbox is a cloud storage provider which allows users to store and share files and folders along with file synchronization supporting various devices like tablet, PC, mobile and laptop. Did you know that Dropbox has several add-ons which can extend its functionality? In Tech Advices under Dropbox category we have explained the available Dropbox add-on and their uses. We have seen Dropbox Folder Sync which allows creating an image on to Dropbox account without moving the original locations and other like Dropboxen which allows multiple instances of Dropbox on a single PC.

Here is another Dropbox related site which allows users to download files to email or Dropbox folder directly. So what does that mean? It means that you no longer should follow the manual procedure of download and then move those downloaded files to your Dropbox folder, few people does need that. With SideCloudLoad.com you can save the download files directly on to your Dropbox folder. Importantly if you are working from some other PC than your personal PC where Dropbox folder resides, then site SideCloudLoad is pretty useful.

Follow the procedure below to download files directly to your DropBox -

   - You need to visit https://www.sidecloudload.com/. It just serve one function, nothing more than that.
   -  Put the download file link in the Source URL field. There is no registration process at sidecloudload and the services are intended to be used anonymously.Upload a Link
   - If you want to send a file directly to your Dropbox account then choose Dropbox or else go for email.Dropbox
    - The next thing is to provide the required details.

But one important thing is that, you can only download 25 MB of data using the services of SideCloudLoad, i.e., your Source URL should be limited to only 25 MB in size.

How to Troubleshoot a Disconnected Internet Connection


If your Internet connection is down due to disconnection and you don’t know the reason for its cause, you would be approaching your ISP provider. Normally in India ISP providers have set up customer care so that they would help in any query related to your connection. So when your internet is down, the customer care executive would be suggesting you to go with the basic internet troubleshooting. This troubleshooting is to ensure that the problem is not in and around you. It goes with configuring your router and your internet connection settings.

Follow the steps mentioned below -
    - Unplug the power cable which is connected to the modem and OFF it for 10 seconds.
    - Connect the power cable to the router.
    - Connect a single PC to one of the LAN ports of the router.
    - Now restart your computer.
    - Now restore the router to factory default settings and it will remove all previously configured settings.
    - Once the router is restored it will reboot by itself.

Now the next steps is to confirm whether you are receiving the incoming signals or not. You can check IP address by following the procedure mentioned below and easily know whether you are receiving the incoming signals or not –

   - For all the operating system of Windows including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, you need to go to run command (Windows button + R in windows 7) and cmd.

   - Now in DOS window type ipconfig and then press Enter on your keyboard.Internet Troublshoot



 
This would give you complete details on the IP address, gateway address and subnet mask address.

The IP address that you see here would be near identical to that of you have for your router configuration except the end digit. For different router that you have you would get the following sets of IP address -

    For 3Com Router IP would be 192.168.1.x
    D-Link Router, IP would be 192.168.0.x
    Linksys Router, IP would be 192.168.1.x
    Microsoft Broadband Router, IP would be 192.168.2.x
    Netgear Router, IP would be 192.168.0.x
    Actiontec Router, IP would be 192.168.0.x
    Where x is a number assigned to the PC

Ex – I have D-Link Router and so I got the IP 192.168.0.124 which is depicted in the screenshot above.

Now when this is done, you can make a note of your IP address and check whether you are receiving the incoming signals from your router or the ISP provider. This is called as Pinging your ISP and it can be easily done by following the steps mentioned below –

   - Click on start and type your IP after writing Ping. Like in my case it would be ping 192.168.0.124 -t and then press enter. So in general it would be ping IPAddress -t.Ping an IP






  
  - This would open Ping command and with the TCP/IP connectivity results and it looks something like this




If you get the above reply present in the message then your incoming signal is working fine but the problem would be in your PC or modem. If it shows ‘Local Area Connection not found’ then its the problem of internet service provider and you need to contact your provider.