About the Blog

This is my diary....what I make sense of, around me. You'll find short prose on contemporary topics that interest me. What can you expect - Best adjectives? …. hmm occasionally, tossed around flowery verbs ?…. Nope, haiku-like super-brevity? … I try to. Thanks for dropping by & hope to see you again

September 13, 2013

2030: A shopping Odyssey

We live in an era of extraordinary opportunities for innovation, creativity and social contribution that seems to have been triggered, much like a primordial life sparking event that changed the face of this earth, by an eclectic mix of ever morphing technology, faster and more powerful data capture & processing abilities and the ubiquitous Internet.

In markets like India this process is getting accelerated, the phenomenal growth of eCommerce in India is coinciding with that of internet explosion and growing flock of young shoppers looking for variety and convenience of shopping. This young population is tech savvy and their motto ‘right here & right now’ seems to nicely fit in the scheme of things. So online shopping is growing by leaps and bounds and the technology is evolving rapidly to keep up with consumer taste & preferences.

With this kind of background it is not hard to crystal gaze into the future and see where the future of online shopping will be around 2030. Consumers will obviously have a plethora of options to shop online through a multitude of devices and platforms to increase the pleasure, speed and ease of shopping. I foresee the following changes in this space;

1. Super Smart phones will arrive on the scene with interactive touch screen interfaces that will provide a 3 Dimensional viewing experience. Enabled with seamless and slick touch pads, they will provide 360 degree navigation and walk through virtual stores

2. Consumer portals will offer advanced analytics with product comparisons, user ratings, offers and other packages that will just pop up on the screen ‘as you go’ on the net. An avalanche of information will be available to the consumer at every click.

3. To enhance the user buying experience, shopping portals, credit rating agencies and finance companies will be come together to offer the discernible consumer with instant buying option without any loan/finance paperwork. Virtually updated credit status of the consumer, on a real time basis will enable these companies to make you offer-by-the minute as you strut the online space.

4. Consumer will have various tools & options to design their own products including new ones altogether, pick and source the right kind of material, and select the finishing vendor to order their products from anywhere around the globe. The consumer will have a virtual control on the entire production and procurement process as a norm and not exception.

5. Specialized accessories like design tools and 3D printers will provide instant gratification to the online consumer. He may like something on the net, say a new product and may download it in a physical form onto his 3D printer after executing the online transaction formalities.

6. Aggregation of consumer data and cloud data warehousing and churning will mean online sellers will have a complete virtual demographic & psychographic profile of the consumer. Online sellers will use this to offer customized user experience based on consumer taste & preferences. So no two customers might get to see the same GuI (user interface) and preferences in any given consumer portal.

7. The all pervasive Internet may morph into a Hypernet and may provide user access to the Products and Markets on Television, ATM machines, hand held devices and ready to access touch screen terminals at offices, clubs, and neighborhood corners.

The future is exciting and the online shopping 2030 odyssey is filled with unlimited possibilities and exciting prospects . Like Artur C Clarke’s journey in his magnum opus 2001: A Space Odyssey, the now familiar story of online shopping will change the way we shop & buy in future. 



September 1, 2013

Dork trilogy - 1

What you practically learn at a Business consulting firm should have been a more apt title to this book. You cant help but giggle & occasional guffaw through the passages of the book as Mr.Robin Varghese, the freshly minted MBA malayali boy out of an Ivy business school, goes through as part of his initiation into management consulting world. The author has a terrific sense of humor and this runs through the entire book making it eminently readable.

It could well be a Desi story inspired and ideashopped over what they don’t teach you Harvard business school. Take the basic principles propounded in the book, mix it with generous dollops of a bumbling lead character, garnish it with some outrageous incidents and turn of events and finally bake it on a humorous plot. And lo voila! You get Dork: The incredible adventure of Robin Einstein Varghese

So what does a dufferson do in blunderland? He realizes that Management practice is one big humbug about the hype it’s made out to be and his learning curve is a big nonsense . Even the creamiest of MBA’s and the so called true blue consulting firms are no better at,

1. Decking up their presentation from ready made stuff available on the internet
2. Cloaking practical talk with jargon's & even more jargon to convey impression of knowing more than they actually do
3. Fleecing clients without caring a fig leaf  about ethics.
4. Being more of a problem than solution to clients

Seems very familiar to real world situation (i.e, inside Consulting's black box). Must say. 




After several bouts of insanely humorous drunken stupor where Varghese comes on to his own in a matter of speaking, two client assignments where he learns the tricks of the trade, he realizes that half the partners in his consulting firms are fools who knew nothing and how his profession was all about suckering up and backstabbing .

Incredible turn of events however catapult him from a substandard consultant facing disciplinary action one day, to a unexpected management hero and a media celebrity the next day .
 

A cubicleist’s rite of passage through office culture, people and practices in a novel, humorous way marks a promising beginning for Mr.Sidin Vadukut in this first volume of the Dork trilogy.

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