Sourav SinhaSourav Sinha, Author at Sourav Sinha

I have a friend by the name of Md. Shamsuddin (We call him Shamsu Bhai) who I think is an epitome of customer service. He might not be a great trainer but if one works with him will learn a lot at his way of providing exemplary customer service. He was of course the person who first gave me a break in an UPS manufacturing company as a sales executive where he used to work as a manager back in the year 2000. While working with him, I learned a lot. Over a period of time both of us have moved on. I am settled in Kolkata running my own business while he is settled in Bangalore running his own UPS manufacturing business.

Approximately 3 years back, few of our friends met up at Bangalore on a nostalgia trip down the memory lane. On the final day of our trip one of our seniors, Pradita Da arranged a get together where Mrs. Vani Sharma also joined us. There she was explaining to us what a great piece of work Shamsu Bhai was doing. She was explaining that not only was she happy with her personal UPS that Shamsu Bhai has delivered but also the exemplary service he provides to even her friends where he has installed machines.

I for one was not very surprised because of my previous experience of working with him. I was of course very happy to hear that because when customers show genuine happiness at your service quality it means you are on the right path towards a sustainable business.

In the year 2005, when I was employed with IndiaInfo.com, one day Shamsu Bhai called up. He had taken up an agency with LIC and was telling me about the benefits of the same. We decided to meet up the next day to discuss the possibilities. I didn’t have any LIC policy till that time and with a new born son, it seemed the correct time to get a policy done.

I went ahead and purchased a policy (Jeevan Anand) through him. Thereafter, I left Bangalore after a few years and we all got busy with our individual lives. We didn’t meet for years. In the meantime, I kept paying the premium, transferred my billing address to my home address at Howrah. And frankly with everything available online, I didn’t need any future service or support from Shamsu Bhai regarding this policy. In 2019 when my father passed away, I was making a replan of all the finances and that time, I thought of making an excel sheet with all my insurance policies’ maturity dates for proper planning. As you can imagine it was 14 years, I had bought that policy and what Shamsu bhai explained about the policy, I didn’t remember at all. This Jeevan Anand – Plan 149 has since been discontinued by LIC as well. The problem was that in the receipt I saw that the maturity date is 2076. I was like, “WOW”, I will be 100 Years Old at that time. What kind of a policy is this which doesn’t give me the benefit of “Zindagi ke Saathi Bhi”? I knew Shamsu Bhai is no longer with LIC so I can’t really turn to him for help after so many years & after all, it’s my duty to remember all the clauses before purchasing a policy. But, still I sent him the policy and asked him what’s this all about?

Frankly, I didn’t expect an answer in a few days. But to my surprise, he answered in less than half an hour, sending me an explainer via WhatsAPP letting me know how the policy works and how at the end of the policy premium period, the policy holder will get all the benefits but even after all these benefits the policy will keep running till the policy holder turns 100 years old. It was so reassuring to hear that and in my mind I kept blaming myself for not remembering what I paid for 14 years back. And Shamsu Bhai being Shamsu Bhai, followed it up with a phone call to explain it to me as well. All this with him not being with LIC any more. Many people might feel that after all he is a friend so it’s not a big deal but let me tell you not everyone does this. His instinct of great and exemplary customer service is what makes him unique.

Successful and Sustainable businesses run on great people management (Employee management and client management). During these unprecedented times of Covid-19, the companies who follow the above motto will come out trumps. Exemplary customer service during a crisis sets you apart from competition and hence whoever follows this will come out better after this crisis.

This current lockdown has all kept us connected via WhatsAPP and I hope we again meet soon in another joyride through Bangalore. I hope this current crisis passes away soon and we meet again on another trip down the memory lane.

So once every week I get the sales team together in the evening via Zoom or Google Meet and have a chit chat. This has been a ritual from the time the lockdown started due to Covid-19. The activity was purposefully kept very informal in all our meetings. Quite understandably all are working in a controlled environment and so informal meetings where we talk less of business and more of fun gives relaxation.

Sales teams as in all organisations work in a very high pressure environment. With Covid-19 kicking in the pressure has only increased. So it’s important that we allow some fun moments so that people can chill. In the last 6 weeks of lockdown, we have had 5 such meetings. One meeting was with one of our sales team members doing a stand up comedy. It was good fun and he promised for more such acts in the coming weeks but unfortunately its yet to happen. We are still waiting for his script to get ready. Looks like a blockbuster evening is coming soon!

Another meeting was just “Chai Pe Adda”. Everyone got their Zoom on and we just chit chatted with a cup of tea in hand. Tea Over! Meeting Over. Cool isn’t it?

So this time, I planned something different. Purposefully I kept my plans under wraps and disclosed the same when the entire sales team logged in at 6 PM yesterday. I planned to play a Psych Game. A game of Predictions and how much you really know about your colleague. Quite understandably many were not aware and hence logged in from their mobiles for the meeting. Unfortunately they had to borrow a spare mobile phone from one of their family members (thankfully that was not denied). Personally, I am pretty bad at these online games but a few days back, my son showed me this game (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wb.goog.ellen.psych) and I found it to be pretty cool. So I thought of playing it with the sales team members.

After everyone downloaded the game, to make it more fun I asked all to log in with some crazy or pseudo names (The predictability gets creepier). This is a game where the players become the game. Various real questions would be thrown up with one of the players as the central character and all the players have to give an answer. In the second step, all have to choose their favorite answer and finally who gets maximum votes for his or her answers is declared the winner. Game Score

So we were 12 of us with 12 crazy names and the games began. It was a 10 round game with loads of fun. First of all, some of the names were so funny that all of us got busy to predict who is who. Then when the questions started coming the answers were equally hilarious. Discussing those answers were itself a lot of fun. Add to that where a couple of players took forever to answer and the entire team waited and kept getting frustrated. Unfortunately the game was such that till everyone is on board it won’t move to the next step. Probably the guys who were delaying, were themselves allowing the fun to continue a bit longer.

Finally the last 3 rounds went quite quick (I guess client calls were getting delayed) and at the end, can you believe it, we had a tie. Sales Team’s A & A won the game jointly. Quite understandably as the game suggests the 2 most jovial and hilarious guys won it.

All in all it was good fun and I look forward to many more such fun filled meetings with all Brainites in the future.

India remains in Lockdown due to CoronaVirus. The official lock down in India started on March 25th and today marks the completion of the 40th Day. From tomorrow LockDown 3.0 begins for another 2 weeks though I prefer to call it Exit Plan 1.0. There are 2 groups of people as I see it and specially during my interactions with various people on Social Media. One group of people wants the lockdown to be removed and alternatively there is another set of people who believes that lockdown should continue. I am of the opinion that the lockdown should be lifted. I give my reasons below.

Lets first look at the major reasons of deaths in India which is connected to any kind of disease.

50% of all Indian deaths every year are due to the above 5 causes. As I was browsing through various data, I came to know that close to 2 Lakhs Indians lose their lives due to road & rail accidents alone. So why am I discussing this?

Simple, because a big percentage of Indians have become fearful of this virus. Yes, life after Corona Virus won’t be the same again. Didn’t all our lives change after 9/11? So we have to accept that Corona Virus is dangerous and we need to be careful and try and live with it. Indian Corona Positive cases is one of the lowest in the world after 10 Lakh tests. The percentage of Indians getting infected by Corona Virus is 4%. Just to bring things to perspective in USA, the rate is 18%. Add this to the current Indian mortality rate of 3% due to Corona Virus and we get an approximate figure of deaths which would still be less than what we have for heart ailment.

So why not make a phased out proper exit plan rather than lockdown? Many people will disagree with me but my point of view is that the after effects of this Corona Virus is too gloomy. Auto Industry, Aviation Industry and Travel & Tourism industry will not see almost any business in the next 6 months to one year. These 3 industries together contribute close to 19% of the Indian GDP and employs close to 4.5 Crore people. Even after lockdown eases these industries wont be able to get back to pre-corona days for another 2 years. One can understand that Aviation and Travel & Tourism will remain affected but why not start the rest of the industries? We need to come out of this fear factor otherwise we will have severe ramifications in Indian economy. Its not that, the country opens after 5-6 months and things will get normal in 2 weeks. It will take 3 times more to bring us back to normal. Hence its better to accept this new normal and create a proper exit plan. My ideas on the same are given below. Most of it are supposed to be followed in Green zone districts across India but I think all zones should be opened because if the major cities remain closed then over all functions will remain too low.

1. Decentralise monitoring control with the local administration in full charge.

3. The entire population of senior citizens above 60 years of age to remain at home.

4. Activities which can continue by staying at home should continue in the same mode.

5. All offices and factories should be given SOP (Standard Operating Procedures).

7. Airlines, Trains, Malls, Theatres, Stadiums, Education Institutes, Religious Congregations etc should remain closed.

8. SOP should be provided for all Bus Operators and Taxi Operators and local administration should strictly follow all protocols.

11. As citizens, all need to follow the rules and if feeling sick one should remain at home.

This way, we will be starting to roll the wheels again. Physical connection with unknown people will still be less because one is mainly going to office and coming back home. When a person meets a less number of people and continues to meet the same circle daily then if one is not infected, then the others won’t be infected as well. So with a little bit of planning, proper execution and support from the citizens will help the Indian economy to come out of slumber faster than other global economies.

Yes, there is a possibility of spiking of positive cases but as my above data showed, the percentage of asymptomatic cases being high and mortality rate being low, we just need to be a little careful and things will be OK. Ofcourse there will be some people who won’t be comfortable with this arrangement and they can continue to stay at home.

I do believe as India partly opens tomorrow, all people who will be stepping out after 40 days follow the set protocols strictly. I also hope that the panic surrounding Covid-19 needs to stop. This is not helping anyone. More than 80% of the Indian population is struggling today and there is no one to help them. They have to help themselves and for that to happen, work must start.

If Exit Plan 1.0 doesn’t move to Exit Plan 2.0 in the next 2 weeks then India will be looking at an economic crisis which will be far graver than what happened before 1991. Hope good sense prevails!

It was an afternoon in May 2007 when my phone rang. I was at my office in SDF Building, Sector V. As I picked up the call, I realised that my very good friend, Asif was on the other side of the line. After exchanging the usual pleasantries, he said that our good friend (and an old roommate during our college days), Sabyasachi Das was in town and he wanted to spend the day with us. I was a person who hardly took any leaves from the office. So requesting a half-day leave and getting it sanctioned at such short notice was not a problem. So, there I was all set to meet Das after a long time. In fact I had not met him after 2003.

It was a mini-reunion of sorts and I later realised that Das came to Kolkata to invite us for his marriage in June. After picking me up, we went to Aquatica and from there we went to City Centre Mall to do some marriage shopping. Sudden decisions have always been the forte of my good friend, Das’. So out of the blue, he proposed that let’s go for a movie. It was almost 9 PM when we went to the INOX counter and we got the tickets for a movie called, “Life in a Metro”. I was not so interested to go for a movie but then with friends around, one shouldn’t think much but should rather go with the flow.

That was my first experience of watching Irrfan Khan. It was not a great movie but the chemistry that Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sen Sharma reflected on screen was very unique and made you love the movie. The comic timing of Irrfan was a relief in the movie which had serious undertones as a theme. Irrfan definitely in my books was a bright spot in that movie other than of course the super hit song, “Alvida”.

As soon as I heard, that Irrfan Khan passed away on 29th April, my first thoughts went back to the above incident.

I have not been a regular movie buff post my college days in Bangalore, so frankly I have not seen most of the movies that Irrfan Khan acted in. But whatever I saw made me like him a lot. His simple looks with an obnoxious smile and his way of getting into the teeth of the characters he played in were very likeable.

The movies of Irrfan Khan that I have seen in theatres after “Life in a Metro” are:

Over the past couple of years, I did see a few other movies of his either on Television or on OTT service and they were:

The best part about Irrfan Khan’s last 3-4 years was the kind of movies he did. I guess over time he realised his forte and signed movies where his wings of acting were not clipped. Though Hindi Medium was a big hit and many around the country would have seen it but he was equally good in small-budget movies like Karwaan and Qarib Qarib Single. Both these movies I saw last year just by chance and I thank myself for that specially, Karwaan. The journey and the relationships between a parent and son were so subtly handled that they will bring tears to your eyes.

English Medium which ended up being his last movie couldn’t get an extended run in the theatres because of the lockdown imposed due to Covid-19. The makers smartly released the movie digitally and it was another movie with Irrfan Khan’s stamp all around it. Another movie with the underlying theme of the Parent-Child relationship.

One of my favourite dialogues from the movie, Anand was “Babu Moshai, Zindagi Lambi Nehi, Bari Honi Chahiye!” You truly lead a “Bari Life” Irrfan Khan. Thank you for all the movies that you gave us, which will make you remain alive in everyone’s hearts forever!

Most schools in India have been caught napping! Leaving out some high end schools, none of the schools ever gave a thought of investing in Technology per se. Online education and virtual classrooms should have been part of the system before Covid-19 struck us.

I will tell you some real life examples below:

My son’s school doesn’t have an online payment system. This is a school in the heart of Kolkata city and quite an old school too. The requirement of having an online payment system for fee payments should have been implemented long back, infact few years back. Quite naturally they are now struggling to take school fees. In Fact they are yet to send any notification on how the parents are supposed to pay the fees and the whole of April is almost over. With no investment in technology, the teachers are equally at sea to teach students “virtually”. As most schools are doing, they are also using Zoom for the last few weeks to take classes. I can see the struggle that the teachers are facing to teach the students. Muting the students and then unmuting them when they press the hand symbol is not yet understood by all the teachers. I can’t blame them because you need to be trained properly to use a system efficiently & effectively.

Not procuring or getting an online software developed which integrates with all functions in running a school is beyond my understanding. It’s the end of April and the report cards of the students of my son’s school are yet to be sent. This is a classic case of lack of future planning and risk assessments. I am sure many schools across India have the same problem. I have friends who work in the Edutech space and have developed custom SAAS based softwares for schools and have been trying to promote these products for the last 4-5 years without any luck. The school authorities never felt the importance of investing in such technologies. A simple survey of the parents might have given results that we are ready to share the burden of the IT infrastructure costs! No such survey was ever carried out.

Indian education system needs an overhaul. Today a small kid of less than 10 years old is so good in computers that they are in fact developing APPs. Why should these kids go through the same system of studying humanities for the next 5-6 years? Why not segregate children based on their interests after the age of 10 or 11 and create a customised curriculum?

School dress at virtual class It’s very funny to see kids wearing school uniforms and sitting in front of laptops to take the virtual classes. Why do you need school dress when the kids are studying from home? It seems the schools want to create a virtual school environment for the kids! I think it’s totally wrong. The kids of today are quite aware of their responsibilities and understand the problem that surrounds us. It’s a new challenge for them as well but they have adjusted pretty quickly. It’s a new normal and they have adjusted to this so why do we try to establish the old normal of wearing a school dress when they are at home?

There is a need to reboot our education system. The old way of thinking and the old way of teaching has to go. Online classes can be made as interactive as in a physical classroom. The only change required is mindset. The western countries have been using such systems for years now. India should have adapted by now.

I hope this disruption of COVID-19 will make us think hard and I hope that the policy makers bring in the sweeping changes that are needed in our education system.

Earlier today, I got an opportunity as a speaker in a panel at SKOCH Summit which was aggregating opinion on the challenges faced by MSMEs in India due to Covid 19. My topic was “Salaries & Fixed Expenses”. Due to Covid-19, the summit was held over Zoom, something that we all have to get used to but with such digital summits one thing is time management and hence, I was unable to speak of all the matters that I had thought about due to the paucity of time.

“Good Afternoon Everyone! Its a pleasure to speak to all of you at this summit.

We are truly in an unprecedented zone right now. People who are debt free and have cash equivalent of 12 months or more can think crystal clear. Rest are all grappling and having a nightmare of the future ahead. I call this, the mother of all disruptions something probably none of the business schools would have taught. A disruption where economic activity is interlinked with personal health. A true black swan event!

1. This is a pandemic and there is no sight of a solution just yet. It’s important that plans are in place for any organisation for a period of 9-12 months.

2. Fixed cost expenses have to be reduced. For a company like us which is into Software Development Services, our fixed costs broadly are:

e. Tools or softwares for business processes (Accounting/HRMS/CRM/Project Management tool/Adobe and Microsoft Licenses etc)

As we got aware of the situation, we had basic plans in place the end of 2nd week of March and infact got 90% of our employees to work from home from 19th March onwards. There is no denying the fact Human Resources (our employees) remain our top most priority. Their health and well being remain our first priority. Thereafter with all working from home from 23rd March, we got our finance team in action to come up with a 5 step plan for this financial year.

We are ofcourse in an industry and we feel extremely humbled and lucky to be very busy with work during this Black Swan event. So our 5 step plan was calculating our fixed costs. 65% of our total expenses is salary. The rest 35% is divided as told above.

2. Office Rent: We spoke to the landlords and agreed on 50% payment of rent till situation normalises with an additional cut of 25% if situation doesn’t normalise in 6 months time. All of us are in this together.

Based on 5 different parameters of cash flow (Collection from clients) we had 5 different sets of decisions. None of our plans include layoffs. No employees will be laid off. If we are able to achieve 80% of our revenues as before then there is no change and we continue with Plan 1. Plan 2-4 is mainly reducing marketing budget in % terms. Only if the situation goes to the worse level, we are looking at a salary cut which will be percentage wise based on who draws how much. But that only gets activated when the situation gets further worse in the western world because our business is very much dependent on how the world recovers from this pandemic. As of today we are in Step 1 and based on the pipeline we have, the next 3-4 months we can sail through. At this point, I must thank all our employees for the stupendous effort they are putting up from their homes. Our cash flow is rock steady and a robust pipeline is available only because of their acceptance of this new normal and working to their level best and sometimes more than that. But this problem is not going to be sorted in 3-4 months. It will take more than 9 months to get us back to our feet. And there lies our biggest problem.

Just like we are in lockdown to flatten the curve, if the Government supports MSMEs with a percentage of their Fixed Costs then the companies like us will be able to elongate our survival.

1. Using PF/ESI data, give 50% of employee salaries of MSMEs to their corporate accounts.

2. Give a moratorium of 9-12 months after which the EMI can start with a reduced rate of interest.

5. USA and Australia are doing it in this manner for their small businesses. This not only helps business continuity but it also helps the employees. Even the UK has a plan in place of a similar nature. If these countries can do it, I think even India can also do it. There is liquidity in the system but there is not a process in place which will ensure that all companies are taken care off. I heard an interview of Mr. Harsh Goenka recently and he says that banks are lined up to give him special loans due to Covid-19 and when we write to our bankers for the same (3 banks) none of them have replied back. 2 banks has categorically rejected (though we have good credit history) and the other bank is doing lip service over the phone with no formal commitment.

6. So where is the money going? Are we going to see another scam with money being pocketed by a few big businesses?

7. Why not just a blanket help to all the registered MSMEs based on the GST/PF/ESI data that’s already available and help with their business continuity plans?

I think the Government needs to think about this very quickly. We are already 30 days and counting related to the nation wide lockdown and MSMEs are not flushed with cash for Business Continuity. We can’t allow job losses in the middle class category as well because this category takes care of the consumption boom in India. I hope someone is listening and executes a plan which will help the whole MSME sector.

I consider myself very lucky to have seen Sachin Tendulkar play. Right from his debut series in 1989 till he hung up his boots in 2013 I have followed his journey. I am very sure many in our generation of cricket lovers would have done the same. Mathew Hayden once said, “I have seen God and he bats at No. 4 for India”. Today being the Master Blaster’s 47th Birthday, I thought of writing down my views on what I personally feel are his Top 5 Test centuries.

A person who has scored 51 Test Hundreds its difficult to choose the top 5 of them. Certainly many will disagree with this list that I have chosen here and I have my reasons for the same which are given below. So here is the list:

This innings showed the world why Sachin Tendulkar was special. He was 18 years old that time and WACA was the fastest and the bounciest pitch in the world. Australia was having a great pace attack lead by Craig McDermott & Merv Huges though Mike Whitney actually ripped through the Indian Second Innings. This was the 5th Test Match and India were trailing 3-0. One must remember that India lost the Test Match by over 300 runs and there is nothing to remember for an Indian fan but the great innings of Sachin makes us never forget that test match. Even Sachin considers it one of his best innings. The footwork against the short pitch bowling was exemplary and his parallel bat shots were a treat to the eye. It was a counter punching innings from him with wickets falling all around him. He finished with a strike rate on 70+ in that innings and none of the other batsmen (from both sides) were anywhere close to that strike rate. Sachin’s love affair with Australia began in 1992 and it continued throughout his career. Over the years he scored many centuries against them but this innings in 1992 takes the cake for its beautiful shotmaking and counter punching the Aussies on the fastest pitch in the world.

By 1997 Sachin had already become the backbone of Indian batting but India’s record against South Africa in South Africa was always bad. Sachin’s personal test record against South Africa is also not very good. This match at Cape Town was another match where India were handed a 282 runs drubbing. But the sheer entertainment that Sachin along with Azharuddin gave in the post lunch session on Day 3 was unforgettable. Those were our college days in Bangalore and almost 8-10 of us watched that session awestruck. What a counter attack launched by both of them. Sachin came to the crease with India at 24/2 and Azhar joined him with India at 58/5. From there the fun started. It was great till it lasted because India scored at over 5 runs an over in the session between Lunch and Tea with Azhar scoring at over 100 strike rate. Azhar finally got out at 115 off only 110 balls. When he got out, India was still 49 runs adrift from following on but Sachin with the help from the tail enders took India past the follow on mark of 330. India finally folded at 359 and incidentally Sachin was the last wicket to fall, courtesy a brilliant one handed blinder taken right at the boundary line by Adam Bacher. Most say Adam Bacher’s only fame in his short cricket career was this catch. Nevertheless, this innings of Sachin’s remains very close to my heart because it was another innings which was played under severe pressure and he came out trumps counter attacking.

Another great innings by Sachin which most would remember because we never forget India-Pakistan encounters, do we? But this was another great innings which ended with India being in the losing side. This was a typical turner at Chennai and with India to bat last it was always going to be a tough battle. Chasing 271 was never going to be easy against an attack lead by Wasim Akram supported ably by Waqar and Saqlain. When India started the Day 4 at 40/2, there was hope that if India goes through the first hour without any hiccups, we will win it. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and within the first hour India’s score read 82/5. It was an uphill battle and a real grind. Thankfully Sachin got good support from Nayan Mongia who himself scored a half century. But a moment of madness after crossing 50 lead to Mongia’s downfall. Sachin was left to take India home along with the tail enders but the biggest problem was his back spasms. Throughout the innings he had to be on medications because of the severe lower back pain. With each passing ball, his physical condition worsened but he fought on. But with 17 runs away from victory he got out. A magical 136 knock came to an end and silenced the vociferous crowd in Chennai. I remember the collective grasp that we left watching him get out. India still had 3 wickets in Hand but unfortunately the tailenders couldn’t take India home and we lost by 12 runs. A match to remember and an innings to remember. Afridi had scored a century on the third day and should have been the prime candidate for the man of the match but it went to Sachin and the reason was the sheer determination and his will to play on even under adverse conditions.

9 years later, Sachin was back at Chennai. Once again India was chasing a big score on the last day. This time Sachin not only took India home but brought back smiles on the face of millions of Indians. Just 2 weeks before this match, 26/11 attacks happened and the whole nation was terrified. This win did wonders to the whole moral of the country. And I think this incident along with the loss against Pakistan 9 years back at the same venue spurred Sachin on. It was apt that he made the winning runs. This win of course wouldn’t have been possible without Virendra Sehwag’s brilliance. Chasing 387 in less than 4 sessions that too in India was a tough ask but the blazing start that Sehwag gave India on the 4th day evening changed the entire complexion of the match. He scored 83 of just 68 balls and his knock ensured that India needed only 240 odd runs on the last day with 9 wickets in hand. Though India lost Dravid early on the final day, but Sachin’s partnership with Gambhir initially and Yuvraj later in the day ensured there were no hiccups. This was also an innings to remember for Sachin because this was a match winning century while chasing. He didn’t win the Man of the Match though because that went to Virender Sehwag because he was the one who changed the complexion of the match. Andrew Strauss, the English captain said later that India was no where in the match for 11 sessions and then won the match in the last 4 sessions because of the audacious stroke play and counter attacking punch by Sehwag.

Many will argue that the innings of 241 against Australia at Sydney was not a great innings. I also agree to that argument and I in fact think its his worst century of the lot going by the quality of batsmanship. But the only reason I kept this innings in the top 5 of my list is because of the sheer determination shown by Sachin against adversity. Sachin was in a treacherous form in this series and he got out nicking the ball outside the off stump in the previous tests. In the final test at Sydney, Sachin made a strategic change to his batting which was very Un-Sachin like. He didn’t play a single cover drive right through the innings. Left all balls outside the offside. Never got lured into a false sense of security and even left rank half volleys. It was a scratchy innings no doubt but when one analyses the greater scheme of things then one can understand the greatness of the man. Being on the crease for more than 10 hours, facing over 400 balls and not touching a single ball outside off stump. Exemplary stuff! He is truly a legend and we are lucky to have seen him bat so many times.

This innings is so relevant in today’s times, isn’t it? Government and civic authorities keep telling us to stay at home to fight CoronaVirus but we keep roaming around in the roads (atleast many are at various places in India – though reduced now). We all need to be as determined as Sachin Tendulkar and stay put at our houses so that we can flatten the curve and reduce the number of infections.

So what do you think about the list above? Do you agree? or do you have any list of your own? Do let me know.

We are truly living in very uncertain times. A month gone working from home. Is this the new normal? Should we treat this as the new normal? Or should we still believe that things will go back again to the old normal after a few weeks or months? As the critic is out on whether there should be a blanket lockdown or not, one thing is certain that the world won’t be the same again. This lockdown has taken the “social” part out from our system. People will think a hundred times before joining a party, going to a pub/discotheque or to a restaurant. Infact visiting friends’/relatives’ houses might not be so common in this upcoming “new normal”. One thing is for sure that Covid-19 is a Black Swan event which I call it as the Mother of All Disruptions. A health challenge coupled with a business challenge has never happened before and hence we are all in an uncertain territory. The Black Swan Event of 2020

Change is the only constant. And the winners always embrace change and make a difference. So here are a few fundamental changes that I think are going to happen post COVID-19.

3. People don’t need to migrate to a new location for a new job (People can be interviewed remotely and hired remotely).

4. With a significant part of the population working from home, there will be less traffic on the roads which would mean less pollution.

5. More and more companies (especially the small businesses) will embrace technology. Digital Disruption in the truest sense will start happening.

6. Video on demand services will be the to go place for entertainment. Data is the new oil.

For the IT sector, I believe it is a great opportunity. Every small business would have understood the importance of going digital. The demand will only increase for IT companies in the near future. Digital Marketing is another segment where the need will go up. People who embrace these changes quickly will turn around quickly. And for that to happen, its important that we utilise this time in developing our skills, Learn new things and build a big and great network. Digital Marketing is the future

I am expecting a lot of new and innovative products in the Edutech and Health tech space. Some of my ideas which are at a nascent stage, I will share in my future blogs.

One thing is for sure that companies which were dependent on a few clients and few domains/verticals will face a huge challenge right now. All understand that the airline, tourism and hospitality industry is at a standstill. The demand in these industries will take more than a year or two to come back. So the companies who are dependent on these industries will face a lot of problems. So it’s very vital that you never have all your eggs in one basket. Diversify is the keyword.

So are you ready to embrace the change and make a difference? Looking forward to your views!
Till then, Stay Safe!

Over the last 20 years, I have heard the word, “Disruption” multiple times. Various political and economic disruptions have happened over the last 2 decades. The world had been left shell shocked by these events, be it the 9/11 attacks or the Lehmann Brothers going under but the resilient human spirit has ensured that we have fought back. But the disruption that has left the world crippled due to COVID-19 is unprecedented. And hence I consider this particular event to be the mother of all disruptions. We have had Great Depression in the past and After Covid-19, decades later, this event will be known as The Great Lockdown!
Just like in the past, humanity will innovate and bounce back. As happens with any disruption, the way of life will change, and more so in this case, because this is a disruption that is way beyond anyone’s imagination. It’s quite understandable that many businesses will be wiped out. Some new businesses will crop up and many others will survive and come out stronger than before. So what are the strategies that one has to adopt to come out stronger after COVID-19?
Topic 1: How to run the business?

Most importantly, the managers/leaders should keep motivating their team not only to keep their spirits high but also to make employees understand that it’s important to learn new skills. Learning, sharing, and staying together as a team will ensure business continuity. Great Lock Down

So what are the trends that we are expected to see in a business, post this Great Lockdown?

Do you think I have missed out on anything or any points? I would love to hear your views!
Till then, Stay Safe all of you!

The COVID-19 Pandemic have made people across the globe think differently. Over the last few weeks, many companies have adopted the culture of Work from Home. For many companies, specially the ones in the IT space had been having this culture previously as well. Its true that the adoptability of Work from Home has been a bit smoother for the IT folks. But here also, having the entire workforce working from home is a first time learning for most companies. For non IT companies it has been a very difficult challenge to overcome all-together.
Its a nightmare of sorts for the HR department across all companies. The pressure of keeping all employees happy and motivated during such a huge disruption is a big challenge. Here are a few tips which the HR department across all companies can do to keep motivating the work force. After all a motivated work force will ensure greater productivity which in turn would mean happy clients.

The idea should be to take all company events which are possible online and use innovative techniques to get all feel connected. The bottomline should be to make everyone happy.
remote employees

What else do you think can be added to this list so that all feel engaged and get used to this New Normal?
Lets hear from you! I am all ears!
Till then, Good Luck! Stay Safe and God Bless!

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