Existential Questions
by Richa Govil, Group Manager, Infosys Technologies
Over the last two weeks I have been going through some of the feedback from readers of this blog. Readers asked about the purpose of this blog, who I am, what my role is, who will be posting here and why, etc. I will attempt to answer these questions below, so please excuse the long post.
When we launched the blog, we had planned for the bios of all the bloggers to be displayed. However, at the time of launch we had to prioritize development of other blog features over the author bios. The bios are going live in about a week or so. But in the meantime, let me introduce myself.
I am a Group Manager with Infosys Technologies in Corporate Marketing. I am responsible for the development of Infosys point of view and go-to-market for the Think Flat initiative. I have been with Infosys for over two years and before that I was with Bain & Co. in the San Francisco bay area, doing corporate strategy and business consulting primarily with hi-tech clients.
Given my previous background and professional interests, I find the topic of how the business world is changing very interesting. Different people may call the phenomenon by different words, but the underlying fact remains -- global trends are changing fundamental assumptions that companies make about their operations. With all the changes happening this is a very interesting time to be in business. That is why I offered to anchor this blog. Obviously, the opinions I express here are my own and not necessarily those of Infosys.
I see this blog as a forum to have meaningful discussions about issues facing companies worldwide. My role in the blog is as the anchor of this forum. Periodically I invite executives within Infosys to contribute their thoughts and experiences. And as we build this blog, you are also going to see executives outside of Infosys (whether clients or not) commenting about related issues from their respective businesses.
Regular readers of the blog commented on my silence over the last couple of weeks. That was partly due to excessive travel and partly self-imposed. I wanted to spend the time going through emails and feedback that we have been receiving to see how we can make the blog more useful to business professionals. So, please continue to send your comments and ideas, and from my side I will try to post more frequently.
Comments
Your write up EXISTENTIAL QUESTIONS is timely. Globally speaking, the corporate blog is not a new strategy, for Indian companies yes this move is innovative, and the theme of this blog is surely exciting and rivetting.
A flat world is an ideal, an organisational challenge. There is an egalitarian appeal to this FLAT WORLD concept. However, it is the abundant potential of flat thinking and flat organisations that makes flat thinking concept doubly attractive.
The challenge to flat thinking is making the concept work. For making the concept work, a critical element is working out the communication systems, there is a need for, lateral communication, cris cross communication and finally the inevitable small percentage of vertical communication.
Communication systems is what that makes ideas and thoughts flow freely in all directions - which is what makes a flat world.
In this regard the present blog will play a pivotal role in enhancing communication and thereby actually creating a flat world.
Posted by: Sunil S Chiplunkar | October 5, 2006 04:06 AM
Thanks for taking our comments seriously. All the very best and we assure you our complete attention.
Posted by: Harish B | October 5, 2006 09:37 AM
Yes, as others have said, this post was really required.
I follow a few corporate blogs and I find those the most interesting that talk about issues close to them in an engaing way and that is why I liked the post 'I have a New Flat World Hero' a lot. It offered me something that I may not find easily elsewhere.
On the other hand, generic Think Flat stuff, I can find tons of information on it, and would definitely look for an Infy angle to it, or something unique that I can't find easily elsewhere.
Posted by: Mridula | October 5, 2006 06:22 PM
Good to see a Indian corporate blog evolving. The fact that its the company I work for makes me feel even more excited.
Posted by: Rajiv | October 5, 2006 06:57 PM
It is nice to see this interesting bog. More and more corporations of all sizes have started using Corporate Bogs as an effective medium and it is only appropriate a technology services company like Infoys would leverage them to their fullest extent and I may even suggest pod casting some panel discussions of related topics with their senior managers / executives and clients on their real-life experiences of the transformations, challenges and opportunities of the Flat World phenomena as well as provide links of URLs of stories of relevance.
e.g. Last week‘s story in Wall Street Journal by Infosys Chief Mentor Narayanamurthy
Titled “Clear Conscience -- Clear Profit”
Great start and please keep this nice bog interesting and active.
Posted by: Ganesh | October 5, 2006 11:23 PM
Typo: Please read 'bog' as 'blog' in previous post.
Here us the URL of the Wall Street Journal article.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115949300510277514-search.html
Posted by: Ganesh | October 6, 2006 02:59 PM
A corporate blog is a good way to create conversations with the community of customers, prospective candidates, etc. It is also a nice way of sharing a company's culture with everyone else.
Just out of curiosity. Do you censor this blog? Are bloggers free to speak their mind even if what they have to say goes against company policies? Most companies who are experimenting with corporate blogs still have not found good answers to these issues.
I personally think a free posting policy that is moderated not by censorship but by "wisdom of the crowds" should work out well. If someone posts a (incorrectly) negative blog, others who disagree will the offense in their own counter posts.
However if the negative post has some truth in it, then it will probably help the company improve their processes.
--
Parag
Posted by: Parag Shah | October 8, 2006 11:08 AM
Is this blog only for Infosys people or anyone who can share related thoughts ? Even though the website is in public domain, curious to know how it works ?
Posted by: Subramanian | October 8, 2006 02:34 PM
Good post and quite timely ;) The blog is really getting a soul and looks good. Welcome back.
Posted by: Al | October 11, 2006 09:01 PM