I.T. doesn't matter – Bhavin Gandhi’s Review

"IT Doesn't Matter" is the article published in the May 2003 edition of the Harvard Business Review (Carr, 2003). It examines the evolution of information technology in the business world and demonstrates how IT is built into the infrastructure of today's world. But as its availability increases and its cost decreases, IT will become a commodity input. And like any other commodity in the history, IT will not allow a business to create a competitive advantage. Hence, the author proposes not to invest heavily on IT projects.

The author makes several good points in his article such as - businesses have over-invested in underutilized technologies without analyzing its strategic advantage. For example, few years back I wanted to buy a new laptop. So, I bought a new MacBook Pro with Photoshop CS4. As a MBA student, I hardly use high processing applications. There was no need, whatsoever, for me to buy a Laptop with 2.6GHz of processor and 4GB of RAM. But I might have felt the need to be on the bleeding edge of the technology, and may be most of the IT enthusiast managers feel the same way.

While the author has many convincing arguments regarding his stand, I still believe that - IT matters more than ever in today's world. The author seems to confuse IT with computing. Cars, Trains and Air Lines could be considered commodities. Transportation isn't. I agree that major elements of computing have been turning into commodities, like CPU, RAM, Disks, etc. But IT is more than that (Freund, 2007).

Dr. Harold contradicts the author’s stand in his paper about technology and e-government. He suggests that without IT, effective and competitive organization is impossible and nothing gets efficiently done (Wesso, July 2004). He goes further by saying that - if IT is not being procured and deployed effectively and efficiently, then that matters very much. Appropriate IT use may not enable an organization or society to ‘get ahead’, but it is very vital just to ‘keep up’.

This article is based on the assumption that businesses have overestimated the strategic value of IT. I agree that businesses should manage the tangible aspects of IT as a commodity because the opportunities for ‘strategic differentiation’ with IT have become scarce. But I do not agree with the author's stand on this topic. I believe that the author's opinion might have been biased due to the 'dot com' bubble burst, as this article was written during that time.

I believe that the author has over-stated the fact that IT holds no strategic value at all. On the contrary, I believe that IT has become an irreplaceable part of the business. For example, I used to work in a company named Book of Odds, Inc. (www.bookofodds.com). Being a small sized company, this company didn’t have a big budget to spend on their marketing efforts. So, they utilized tools of social media to market themselves. This approach gave them more visibility than they would have got through other means of marketing. For this ‘social media marketing’ initiative, the company didn’t have to invest much in its IT infrastructure. But the benefits got from this initiative were way more than the investment. Thus, IT certainly provided strategic advantage for Book of Odds, Inc.

In today’s world, we are overloaded with information. And IT can help us analyze this information for our benefit. Thus, if use right – IT can differentiate your business as compared to your competitors. And IT matters more than ever, in this fastest changing world.

References:

1. Carr, N. G. (2003, May 01). IT Doesn't Matter. Retrieved Aug 24, 2010, from Harvard Business Review: http://hbr.org/product/it-doesn-t-matter/an/R0305B-PDF-ENG


2. Freund, G. (2007, Jan 03). IT doesn't matter, part 1. Retrieved Aug 24, 2010, from Rough Type: http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/01/it_doesnt_matte.php


3. Wesso, D. H. (July 2004). Technology, e-government & economic development. Centre for e-Innovation.

Lead your brand, in the world of social media

Lot of people might argue, but I feel that we are currently on the verge of a major paradigm shift. With the help of the Internet and new communication tools like - Facebook, Twitter, blogs and LinkedIn – we are changing the way, how we communicate with each other. Social media is completely changing the way we used to interact with each other. Maybe that’s the only reason why, we trust product’s reviews on - Facebook, Twitter and Yelp - more than on an advertisement seen on TV.

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One might ask - What if our communication ways are changing? What does that have to do with Leadership? In fact that has to do with only - Leadership. After all, what is Leadership? Isn’t Leadership – leading changes? Isn’t leadership about envisioning the future? If you are not yet convinced, then let me ask you one question – “Do you think that your customers are not talking about your products on these social media platforms?” In fact, YouTube became the second largest search engine after Google, and approximately 25% of YouTube videos contain product reviews.

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So, the question is – how can we lead this change? How can we use social media as a tool to improve our business? The answer is very simple. Just do what you would do in a normal situation. You just need to expand your horizon. I agree that social media is the fastest growing communication platform out there, but it’s just a platform. You still need to stick to your basics, and if your basics are strong enough then you can leverage this platform in favor of your business. Following are few tactics that will help you create “positive brand awareness” through social media:

1.       Be Present: For monitoring any kind of customer feedback through social media, you need to be on social media. So, create your account on few biggest social media platforms like - LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

2.       Be vigilant: Continuously monitor social media. And find out what people are talking about your company/organization. With lot of free tools available out there like – “Google Alert”, it is not that difficult to be vigilant.

3.       Be quick in your response: In platforms like Twitter and Facebook, information is growing faster than ever. Thus, you need to be quick in responding to your customer’s positive/negative feedback. I would recommend you to have dedicated resources for this.

4.       Have your blog: This is the key element. Most of the times, your customers don’t find ways to tell about your products to the world. And that’s why they talk about your products on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. If you would have given them some kind of platform to raise their voice, then they would rather blog on that website. The beauty of this idea is – you can control your feedback.

I hope this information proves to be helpful in some way. I am always eager to know your ideas too. So, feel free to comment on my blog.

Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi

Is Management more important than Leadership?

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First of all, I would like to thank you for reading my blogs. Lot of people have e-mailed me regarding my blogs. Ironically, most of them asked me the same question - "Is your blog about Leadership OR Management"? And I tell people - “My blog is about Leadership AND Management”. But people don’t seem to understand that.

I guess, it became fashionable now days to separate "leaders" from "managers". Some people may define Leaders as - "those who do the right things" and Managers as - "those who do things right". I used to define Management and Leadership in the same way, before I realized that I might be missing the big picture. Most of the Leaders don’t define management as a part of Leadership anymore. And that’s where they are going in the wrong direction. With this mentality of differentiation between Leadership and Management, many leaders are detaching themselves from the messy process of managing. Thus, most of the times they don't know what's going on.

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The truth is, many of the strategies in today’s world are built in isolation at the "top". If this wouldn’t be the reason then we wouldn’t have seen major financial and automobile companies failing. Today, most of the Managers are told to meet their targets, or they will let go. This approach shapes-up Manager’s thinking. Instead of taking risks to create new opportunities, they become busy in meeting their targets. Besides, with so many of their colleagues gone in downsizing, they feel like, they have less and less time to think. This approach induces a big gap between Management and Leadership. Instead of thinking about the long-term vision (right thing), Managers become busy in looking good for the next quarter and "doing things right".

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Leaders/Managers of today don't understand the fact that - Leadership and Management, both are interlocking competencies. One can't exist without the other. I see leadership within the positional powers of managership. I understand that Managers are focused on serving the short term bottom-line numbers, to serve their own survival; while Leaders are suppose to live by the values in serving the larger and long term interest of stakeholders. But if Leaders start to manage within their organization, instead of impressing outsiders, then the organization can be efficient and successful. As far as my question is concerned - “Is Management more important than Leadership?”, I think that they both are really important. And if we can somehow create a tight bond between Leadership and Management then we can avoid companies from failing.

I hope my blog helped you in understanding yet another perspective of Management. If you have any other opinions then feel free to share with me on my blog.

Thanks. - Bhavin Gandhi

My Purpose – Leadership and Management for 21st Century

The last thing the world needs right now is another management and leadership blog. Believe me, I have read a ton of them over the years too. But I have always struggled to find a single blog that would make me aware of the changes I needed to make to become a better leader or manager, in the rapidly progressing 21st century. In today’s world, it is becoming more difficult to run a business/company – not just because of the current economic crisis but due to the mere nature of the business itself. It is common to see growing number of leaders and managers find themselves working with people from different locations, different cultures, different generations, and different backgrounds. This changes everything from how to lead the organization to how to manage different projects. Thus, with this blog I will try to help people – better manage, lead and organize their businesses and lives, in the 21st century.

I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to know some great mentors over the years, and I have always been a believer in the mantra – “Smart people learn from their mistakes, but smarter people learn from their own mistakes as well as other people’s mistakes”. So, I have always viewed things from that perspective. With that approach and 8+ years of business experience with two Master degrees – I have collected a number of the best practices for leadership and management. I will try to relate these experiences in my blogs so that they can help you become a better leader or manager.

You can visit my blog at: http://www.bhavingandhi.com

I hope you like my blog, and it proves helpful to you in resolving Leadership and Management challenges.

Thanks - Bhavin Gandhi

Motivate your employees with “Why”

Have you ever wonder about how Apple and Google makes itself the best place for employment than other organizations. They have the same pool of talent, technology, and resources as any other organization in the world. So, how are they able to attract motivated people than other organizations? Do you think its their lucrative salary package? You may be completely wrong, if you think that money can motivate people to perform their best. I am not denying that money can’t motivate you, I am saying that  money can’t be the only thing that can motivate you to do your best. Don’t you agree?



Those days are long gone, where people were working in labor intensive jobs (production jobs). In the 21st century, with latest technological equipments, most of the employees use tools/machines to get their work done. You can certainly motivate your production employees by providing money as an incentive, but you can’t motive your other employees through the same technique. In fact in one research by Dan Pink, he talks about - how money does not motivates us to do our best.

I personally believe that - its not “what you do” that motivates your employees. But its “why you do it” that motivates your employees. Lets put this concept in to your life. I am sure that you must have come across some situations in your lives, when you must have had an employee, who was not motivated. The most common technique that you might have adopted must be “fear”. You must have communicated something like - “You need to finish this, otherwise....”. Do you realized, what did you do? You communicated - what he/she needs to do. Lets consider an another scenario. Lets assume that  you communicated to him personally and said something like - “Your work is important, and this is how it helps the team, and this is why we do it”. Don’t you think this approach would have worked better?

Take Linux for an example. Linux is an open source software, which is used as a corporate server in 1 out of 5 organizations. And surprisingly enough, it is free. Why would someone make something, if he/she doesn’t get any benefits out of it? The answer lies in my headline - “motivation through why”. Lot of people believe in open source platforms, they believe in the “why”, and that’s why they are willing to create these kind of software for free. So, next time if you see a poor performer in your team, then don’t directly jump in to “how to fix it”, instead help him understand “why you are doing the work that you do”. I guarantee that - you will see some positive result at the end of that discussion.

I hope my blog helped you understand Leadership from a different perspective. Let me know your opinion through your comments. Thanks. - Bhavin Gandhi

The Best MBA Program in the World - UNR’s MBA

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Today, I was attending my last summer class in the UNR’s MBA program. During the last presentation of the class, I was lost in my own thoughts. I was thinking about - how much I learned from UNR’s MBA program. But before I talk about my amazing learning experience at UNR, I would like to ask you few questions. What exactly do you look for in an MBA program? Top notch education? Rate of return on your investment? Experienced classmates? Over all experience? Whatever may be the case, UNR will exceed all of your expectations.

The niche of this program is - its innovative courses, which helps them in creating the “Leaders of Tomorrow”. Courses like Entrepreneurship in today’s world, social media, personal branding, etc. are one of the best courses that I would recommend. For example: Dr. Bret teaches the course on Personal Branding. UNR is one of the fewest schools, offering this type of the course. In this course, we learn how to market ourselves. Especially in today’s world, it is becoming really important to have your Personal Brand, if you want to end up with good career options after graduation. No matter how much talented you are, if you can not put yourself out there, your knowledge will not be useful for your professional growth.

Overall, this program is outstanding. It is very challenging but extremely rewarding at the same time. Balancing school, work, and family has been one of the most difficult things for me to do in my life. But the rewards have been tremendous, the knowledge that I have gained here at University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) is priceless. Especially, the instructors were great business professionals, well-respected in their fields. I really enjoyed the fact that some of the professors were adjuncts and could bring in real-life experiences and their connections and networks to the school. It was incredibly interesting. Having access to such varied faculty members, who were always available by phone, e-mail, or in person - was a great help.

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UNR's MBA is a phenomenal program and an investment. I'm tremendously glad that I made the decision to attend and recommend it highly to everyone who has considered it. I am a strong ambassador for the program because of its flexibility for working adults, strong core classwork, quality peers and diverse population. After all, Business Week and Princeton Review must have done some good research before naming this AACSB Accredited school, UNR’s College of Business, as one of the best Business School in the world.

How to Reinvent Large Organizations

Most of you may be thinking that smaller organizations and start-ups can change them easily, and their smart and smarter strategic moves don’t apply to your older, established business. That assumption is completely wrong. I agree that established businesses take time to change. But if done right, they can leverage their knowledge and experiences, and prove that smart strategy knows no age limit.

It may seem obvious to solve problems by applying knowledge extracted from elsewhere, but doing so takes discipline. It is not uncommon for us to forget our past experiences, even though we know that history has a way of repeating itself. But our tendency to compartmentalize issues leads us to overlook lessons learned in one context even when the problem at hand is remarkably similar. Fortunately, some of the major organizations learn from their past experiences and apply them to present challenges.

I am not an expert on organizational change, but from my experiences and observations, here are my few recommendations:

• The leader should develop a clear vision for his/her company. And he/she needs to incorporate feedback from his/her peers in this vision building process. This will give his/her 360 degree view on all the historical experiences.


• The leader should believe in his/her vision. This sounds very simple, but it is really hard to put into practice. For example: if a salesman doesn't believe in his product, then how will he convince customers to buy that product?


• The leader, who is making change in the company’s strategy, must know which assets can be leveraged and which need protecting. Knowing that Apple’s primary strength was its innovation, it needed to come up with new ground breaking technology to remain competitive. And they came with something we call as - iPod.


• Reinvention of the Organization won’t be simple, but the process can be simplified if you know where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there.

We live in a time of innovation and expansion, a world of smart and smarter strategic options. And there’s no reason why you and your organization cannot be among them.

I hope my article was helpful and I am eager to hear your feedback. Thanks. Bhavin Gandhi.