Birds of Kruger National Park

Can you identify all of them?

 

 

Can ignoring customer experience be costly?

The larger a company's market share, greater is the risk that it will take its customers for granted - HBS terms it as the “Dominance Trap.

A Bain survey revealed 80% companies believe that they deliver superior customer experience while when their customers were surveyed, only 8% agreed.

As profits increase, management begins confusing customer profitability with customer loyalty, not realizing that the most lucrative buyers may also be the angriest and most alienated. Traditional market research approach may also lead the firm to view customers as statistics, supplanting CSAT figures as proxy for actual customer behavior. Managers can become so focused on the data and metrics that they stop hearing the real voices of their customers.

It is easy to believe that you are keeping customers happy but to actually get customer devotion is the real challenge.

Improving Customer Advocacy - How a customer flows from being a prospect to brand advocate?

From prospect to an advocate - Stages of customer engagement

NB: If you want to copy this, please acknowledge my blog as source! [Sunil Seth; Tweet @sunilseth]

Improving Customer Experience in Financial Services – Why and How?

Am I Customer ID 127346 or Alicia Samuels to you? Does my Bank care only if I’m a High Net worth Individual? I really need to buy a House, and not specifically Mortgage or Insurance. Why is it difficult to be respectful, transparent and upfront? Can I trust you with my money and my needs?

Customer Experience (CEx) is sum of all experiences a customer has with the company over the duration of their relationship, i.e.,  lifecycle stages of awareness, discovery, attraction, interaction, purchase, use, cultivation and advocacy.

As financial services become commoditized; so does the treatment of customers. Keeping the customer engaged across repeated transactions hence emerges as an important differentiator as well as a challenge. Customers are willing to pay more, buy more, be loyal and become brand advocates for those who provide superior experience.

 As an example in a recent study; the annual commission for even such commoditized Products as MasterCard Standard or Visa Classic debit cards was found to be 1.65 times higher for top banks against those who scored least on Customer Experience. With the current economic slowdown and recovery, the customer needs and expectations have shifted to a “new normal” while financial companies tackle supposedly contrary goals of customer delight and cost reduction. 

Upgrade Samsung Galaxy 5 / I-5500/ I-5503 to Android 2.2 Froyo - A simple guide

Before you try and upgrade the Galaxy 5 handset; a few points to ponder

1. Roots and upgrading firmware may not void your warranty but it can brick your phone
2. Take a backup of all your data with Kies before you begin
3. Get Kies to install all drivers before you start (more on this later). You may need to download latest version of Kies
4. Samsung generally makes the best and most stable firmware for their phones. Even though the phone is capable of running Android Froyo (version 2.2); it may not perform as expected

 

Why I upgraded my only workphone to Android 2.2 - Use my phone as a wi-fi hotspot

Setting up MTNL / Dolphin / Trump 3G or HSDPA Connection on Andriod Smartphone [Delhi]

This is the link from the MTNL official Website and as always, customer service guys don't know anything (except one guy who was good but could not resolve my problem. He gave me the partial manual setup, servers and passwords.Rest was trial and error)
http://mtnldelhi.in/dolphin/3g_booking.htm [This is indicative. you need to setup more details as below]

My story started when I decided to go in for MTNL's scheme of FREE 3G TRUMP Connection offered to all MTNL, Trump and Dolphin subscribers. With a Jeevansathi zero rental plan and freebies, it was very enticing. But before that, here is how to set it up on an ANDROID Handset

go to >>>> Settings --> Wireless & Networks --> Mobile Network Settings -> Access Point

Then manually create a new Access Point by clicking the Android Submenu button and fill up these values (Setup for Pre Paid Service, i.e., PPS Trump. May or may not work with Dolphin as could not test there)

NAME mtnl
APN gprsppsdel
PROXY 172.16.31.10
PORT 9201 (for delhi )
USERNAME mtnl
PASSWORD mtnl123

Make sure Authentication Type is set to none

It is important to select APN as gprsppsdel and not 3g / hsdpa (tested with Galaxy 5 handset and Nexus) as others do not work. gprsppsdel automatically detects HSDPA or 3G and connects to the fastest data tansfer speeds available. Make sure that the option of "Use only 2G Networks" is not checked in your phone settings.

Things That DO NOT WORK -
1. Unable to see Youtube Videos. Though site opens up. Works fine with Airtel EDGE
2. Unable to hear any radio Channels via an APP. Works fine with Airtel EDGE

Promises That Were False
1. No Free 200MB for 1st month data download given. All my 3G downloads are charged
2. No free Mobile TV , Arti or any additional Freebies.

New Innovation to tackle Carbon "Black"Mail: "Green is Free!!"

[I use the phrase "developed world" to indicate a certain group of countries but it does not imply my subscription to the notion of them being so!]

Green is now more than the color of envy, it is the color of Environment,color of conflict twixt so called developed and developing world; color of future labels on Walmart stuff and of course Shrek!!

The idea of forcing commitments from India on green house reduction is a two edged sword for developed world (Why? Maybe later blog on that one). We have been harping on "lowest per capita carbon (and energy/resources etc)" in the world which is possibly true as well. I dont see any other region where Raddi / Kabadi trade is a legitimate way of earning livlihood. A whole strata of society survives as rag pickers from garbage dumps (no I am not proud of this fact). The problem is we don't effectively document and showcase our own strangely unique characteristics till someone comes along and does the job for us.It would then suddenly turn into a cool thing to do like case-study on Mumbai Dabbawalas and B-Schools would tag along for their own PR. Additionally, we thrive on destroying our ancient heritage in the name of progres. Countless old monuments were demolished in Delhi to make way for builder flats, shops and other concrete junk (more on that in later blog I guess).

However, I see the trend shifting. Since many "developed" nations would transition to greener technologies, thereby increasing the cost of production; manufacturing would move to other countries leading to equitable distribution of industrialization benefits. Just that "developed" nations managed to develop themselves and pollute the world before the concept of Green became a buzz word and now they want to deny others an opportunity under the guise of being morally correct. Maybe there is a bit of genuine concern as well. At least perpetual underdogs like me are rooting for some more green initiatives to emerge out of this.

The underlying assumption in all our arguments has been that employing Greener and natural means of doing something increases its costs. This may not be necessarily true. We need to look for ways where it is both Green and cheap. Earlier, same view was held for Quality and Costs by the automobile manufacturers till Toyota came along and shattered the Myth. Green needs another Toyota to come and prove us wrong.

As goes an old joke, while some spent millions developing a "zero gravity pen" that could be used by Astronauts in Space, Cosmonauts used a pencil instead!!

Section 49 (O) debate solved

Before every election, I get a similar note as below but this time I decided to investigate...

1. There is no Section 49 O in our constitution. Section 49 deals with Preservation of architectural structures and monuments or something

HOWEVER

there is a Rule 49 (O) in THE CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS RULES, 1961 which says exactly the same thing as below as per this National Informatics Council Website of Law ministry

http://lawmin.nic.in/ld/subord/cer1.htm

So now I can rest in peace (unless Lawmin was hacked) .... the idea and motion is correct even though citation is wrong...

and in case you are wondering.... yes I do get free time to waste often on mindless pursuits :))

Cheers :-)
L

THE ACTUAL MESSAGE ---->

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kavita Verma
Date: 2009/3/3
Subject: Let us Vote For Better India
To: sunil.seth@gmail.com



I VOTE NOBODY
Did you know that there is a system in our constitution, as per the 1969 act, in section "49-O" that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn`t want to vote for anyone!
Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these leaders have never disclosed it.
This is called "49-O".
Why should you go and say "I VOTE NOBODY" because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received "49-O" votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re-polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re-polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them.

This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way; of our whole political system. it is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public.
Please spread this news to as many as you know.
Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India ... show your power, expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is even more powerful than voting... so don`t miss your chance. So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49-O)
Use your voting right for a better INDIA!

List of birds I had seen

I used to be an amateur ornithologist once... and I had compiled a list of birds and behaviours that I had observed. Found that old notebook again and before I lose it, this is my effort to preserve my past. I realise that the taxonomy has changed behind my back so this is the 80's way of naming them

1. Brown rock Chat
2. Chiff Chaff
3. Pariah Kite
4. Whitebacked Vulture
5. Domestic Duck
6. Grey Wagtail
7. Plain Wren Warbler
8. Tailor Bird
9. House Swift
10. Wiretailed Swallow
11. Common Swallow
12. Black winged Stilt
13. Common Peafowl
14. White Throated Munia
15. Indian Robin
16. Magpie Robin
17. Shikra
18. Ring Dove
19. Little Brown Dove
20. Crow Pheasent
21. Purple Sunbird
22. White Eye
23. Large Green Barbet
24. Crimson Breasted Barbet
25. Yellow Eyed Babbler
26. Large Grey Babbler
27. Jungle Babbler
28. Common Babbler
29. Cattle Egret
30. Black Drongo
31. India Pippit
32. Baybacked Shrike
33. Rufusbacked Shrike
34. Crested Lark
35. Paddy Bird
36. Blue Rock Pigeon
37. Yellow Legged Green Pigeon
38. Koel
39. Pied Crested Cuckoo
40. White Fantail Pigeon
41. Redvented Bulbul
42. Redwhiskered Bulbul
43. Blossom Headed Parakeet
44. Roseringed Parakeet
45. Jungle Crow
46. House Crow
47. Spotted Owlet
48. Black Redstart
49. Red Munia
50. Brahmini Myna
51. Bank Myna
52. Pied Myna
53. Indian Myna
54. Hoopoe
55. White Wagtail
56. Yellow Wattled Lapwing
57. Red Wattled Lapwing
58. White Breatsed Waterhen
59. Indian Moorhen
60. White eared Bulbul
61. House Sparrow
62. Grey Hornbill
63. Lesser Goldenbacked Woodpecker
64. White Breatsed Kingfisher
65. Golden Oriole
66. Ashy's Wren warbler
67. Small Green Bee eater
68. Common Sandpiper
69. Grey Partridge
70. Wood Sandpiper
71. Long Tailed Minivet
72. Baya weaver Bird
73. Pied Wagtail
74. Yellow Wagtail
75. Rosefinch
76. Painted Storks
77. Black Ibis
78. Indian Tree Pie
79. Blue Jay
80. Black Drongo
81. Little Cormorant
82. Darter or Snake Bird
83. House Swift

Carbon Footprint of a Close Relationship

I always think.. one should encourage ones' close buddies to tie the knot for the sake of Carbon efficiency [Warning : check out the legal ramificaions of gender marriages before doing anything drastic]. Not only its better that they would know each other quite well, its Eco - friendly too....

Q: Why should you play cupid between your good friends?
A : Because its Carbon efficient in the long run. In case they do get hitched up,
1. You just need to travel to one place and meet them both. Saves fuel.
2. You can get away with buying one gift. Again saves effort and fuel.
3. You need to send them just one common invitation card. Saves trees.
4. One phone call at the appropriate time and you can speak with both.. energy eficient.
For the two of them, it becomes C - Eff as well
1. Energy savings in terms of electricity and dwelling costs. [a high chance this would happen]
2. They become natural car poolers to office and common parties which otherwise they would individually travel to..

Q : Then why dont you implement your preachings?
A : In case things dont work out between your best buddies, it will get messy and you would have to choose loyalities. Things get complicated over a period of time. But as always, my clinching argument is... Too much effort & I am lazy.

The Element C

There has been a lot of talk in recent times of Carbon Footprint, Carbon Audits and like which set my train of thought towards the decision we make in life. Can we use the overall Carbon impact to guide us in our personal choices or is it something limited to weird consultant world!!!

Q : Why are you a Vegetarian?
A : Being a Vegetarian is more Carbon efficient on an average. If we assume that the C - Efficiency of an average living being is 60% (includes Plants, Chicken.. maybe humans) then the farther up you dine in the food chain, the less carbon efficient your food habits become e.g. - If you eat chicken; then for 100 gm-energy equivalent of C absorbed by the Maize, you get 60 gm-E inside the chicken and you get only 36 gm-E from it. If you directly ate maize, you got 60 gm-E which is better. This is gross oversimplification but you get the idea!

Q : So why are you Non - Vegetarian then?
A : If you answer the above Q purely on energy basis, it does not give a full picture. The higher node you gobble from the food pyramid, the more processed food becomes. So if I live in Iceland where plants are few and maybe none edible, I will eat fish/ animals who in turn eat those plants and make them palatable. Alternatively, if I need Omega 3 fatty acids from fish! The clinching argument being I like the taste of Non -Veg fare...

..... This argument will continue with more Q n A

Old sanskrit plays

When I first heard about Lord Macaulay's minute on Indian Education; I could not believe it. Well... good for me because what I heard was false. The truth behind that was he believed neither Arabic nor Sanskrit could be the unifying language between us all or between East and the West. It had to be English taught to the "enlightened few" who would act as a bridge between the rulers and the ruled.Thus also began my search for ancient Sanskrit plays .

I remembered Vasantsena Hridayam [& Aindrajalakah by King Shudrak] from my Sanskrit texts I studied as a child. All part of the epic play Mrichakatika [The little clay cart] set in the city of Ujjaini. What I learnt subsequently was that the mid 80s Girish Karnad Movie "Utsav" was an interpretation of the same play with Rekha and a surprisingly malnourished Shekhar Suman in lead roles. Amar Chitra Katha published a collection recently on Shudrak's plays which brought back happy memories. Bless Mr Anant Pai.

But the quest was not limited to Sanskrit plays and playwrights. I also delightfully discovered Manga Shakespeare and am reading Richard III. The war of roses and some ancient Sanskrit plays are quite similar in their characterisation of people and situation. Is it just me or someone else as well who thinks that the Sanskrit plays and old English plays have a common connect? Could it be because both have culturally evolved from the same basket? Is that basket the grand Epic Mahabharat about which it is said that all imaginable plots are included in its vastness and there is no story untold outside its realms.....I don't know yet!
PS [Added next day] - I think I know the connect. Most of the works I have read are translations. People who know good English and have learnt Sanskrit over the years will distort the literature to suit their original language requirements.I think I need to read them in original form before I can reach any conclusion but where would I find them?
Help please - I need old Sanskrit/Prakrit plays in their original form. If you can provide a grumpy grandpa to read them aloud to me with explanations; that would be great but would entirely defeat the purpose!

April's Fool

I had wanted to update my writings for a long time.... they have always been personal or for a select few but what the heck...

This was one of the trips decided impromptu. Chetan asked If I wanna go and for the want of something better to do that weekend, I said yes. There were 4 of us, Chetan, Roopa, I and Siddarth (Chetan's college friend). I still hadnt forgiven him for armtwisting me into Jhoom Barobar (notice the Marathi influence on my language!!)

Tickets were booked and we set off on a rainy Friday night in a semi-luxury bus..which to my dismay was with a leaky roof and an equally horrible movie.. Arjun Pandit. Siddartha(Sid) and
Chetan (henceforth referred as C2 for Chetan Choudhari)got cosy chatting up on old times.. Roopa rolled over and fell dead asleep and I was left tossing up and down uncomfortably. It was strange for me as I was not yet particularly friendly with anyone here.


Bus arrived at 3 in the morning and we had to scout for a place to crash. I didnt have faintest of clues as to what to do where to go etc but C2 and Sid were veterans. Its hard to be here and not know Marathi. Shirdi turned out to be quite different from the sleepy village I had imagined.

We found a room in Neeta hotel close to the Sai baba's temple we were supposed to visit. A single room with 2 beds, attached loo/bath, TV costs 700 bucks :"(. There was a Maharashtra state Tourism hotel as well next to ours but that needed an advanced booking. Its always easier and advisable to find a room close to the temple. Just get off the bus and ask someone for directions towards the temple. DO NOT TAKE A TOUT FOR ANYTHING.Prepare to be duped.

Bought Prasad at local stall and some flowers, dumped shoes in a sack and deposited with temple staff. Limited lockers are also available for stuffing things into as cellphones and cameras are not allowed inside (roopa smuggled ours; hidden in her dreadfully pink Nike bag). Total queue time about 3 hours later we got through to the huuuuugeee throne room. It was magnificent, huge, grand, totally awe inspiring. Darshan was quick.. police were marshalling people out at breakneck speed and yet more and more people just poured in. Also what struck me as odd was that there were TV screens all over the place which were supposed to broadcast live scenes from Abhishek in the throne room (no not the Butt-Chun variety!!) but I guess they were running the same recording over and over again!!

It was funny to notice people falling like nine pins in that huge hall before HIS mighty throne while the guards were shooing them out almost simultaneously. Guards were not entirely fiendish though... I saw them escort an old lady in the crowd for a darshan..Sweet and sour perhaps!!

The whole complex was done in a lovely serene cool way like most of the ashrams I have been ..lots of open spaces, little temples surrounding the main hall..book shops and a museum
for old baba relics.

Technology enabled you to give donations via a credit/debit (VISA) card as well which was a first for me. All you need to do is tell the guy how much you want to donate and he would swipe your card and give you give you a reciept. But this temple was not the place where baba lived. His house was an old mosque which we visited later. I immediately fell in love with that place. One open hall and a side room where the eternal fire was burning. A sack of grain replaced around navratri/dussehra time and a stone grinder. Bucket, mugs .. his possessions were few and simple. The whole place vibrated of love and simplicity unlike the main temple throne room where I could feel crass commercialization, anger, irritation and lots of negativity in the air :((.

There was one place women were not allowed to enter. The baba's sleeping/resting chambers or
some thing. It is funny how people (deemed custodians of culture) become childish when they grow up. Am sure baba would neither have stopped nor barricaded anyone from visiting him regardless of gender creed etc.

Next we hopped into a taxi for Shani Shignapur (I always called it Shani Singapore). Its about
2 hours from Shirdi. You may have to shell out Rs. 50-70 per head for Taxi. Another place where women were not allowed to do a proper darshan of Shani dev. And the hilarious part
being you had to take off all clothes (sorry only guys) and wear some flimsy dhoti, take a wet dip and pay him your respects in this dripping wetness (Roopa has photographic evidence.. damn her cell camera). God was represented by a nondescript stone where you would offer mustard
oil, some seeds, dhatura leaves etc... It was quite intriguing. BUT there was no way I would be stripping in front of these people. Perhaps will pay another quiet visit to this one with friends and get it over with.

If you are not already exhausted and fast asleep enroute Shani shignapur and back you get a visual treat of unspoilt countryside! The route to shirdi from Shani shignapur was full of Sugarcane and maize fields sporadically sprinkled with sugar refineries. Spectacular sights!!

We came back to hang out at Shirdi for a few more hours.While roaming around alone in the museum of baba's relics, I figured that he had the most definite handsome central asian looks; perhaps from Afganistan or farther. Nobody knows for sure where he came from but as far as I could decipher he was definitely quite tall, handsomely well built with sharp central Asian features.

The thing that offended me most was the missing Sanitation facility and eating joints. We were roaming around the place, sometimes even barefoot. The filth was always there in your face. There was an alarming absence of clean public loos. I did notice one restaurant owner screaming at a few ladies looking for a clean place to relieve themselves without buying his "Gujrati Thali". The Food joints were few and non descript. :((.. not a place for culinery delights.

Overall, go only for darshan and expect no more. Prepare to be disappointed with the warmth and hospitality of the place. Its not eaxctly a picnic site. BUT YOU WILL FIND PEACE AND HAPPINESS IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK FOR IT :D....

Hello World

If I were a geek these would be my first words anywhere - "Hello World"