Ramanisblog

Tag: IT industry

  • Half World Wealth With 85 People Beware Of Cataclysm.

    Contrary to what many think the touted Economic Growth in The World has increased the divide between the Rich and The Poor.

    With Communism long dead and buried, the Media in the hands of the Rich, one  does not get to know what the less fortunate have or feel about this economic prosperity.

    last Sunday I watched a Talk show Neeya , Naana, in Star Vijay Tamil TV Channel on the Chasm that exist between the college Going youth of the affluent and the less fortunate.

    The difference between the rich and poor  did exist even when I was in my college(1967-70)

    But the conscious behaviour of the well to do was negligible.

    Now the attitude and the behaviour of both the classes are belligerent towards each other.

    So is the divide between the Rich, Lower middle and middle classes in India.

    After the dawn of the IT Industry, a new class of neo Rich has sprung up, mainly from the lower middle class.

    By nature,the Middle classes in India try to be what they are not even while when they were not affluent.

    But with this IT money this has increased alarmingly.

    Even for small things that can be done by themselves poor people are hired.

    While one used to go out to buy vegetables by walk or at the most by a Scooter, people now use a car or send a servant maid.

    They no longer buy cinema tickets by standing in the Theaters.

    Nor do In find them stand in queue in Railway Stations to reserve tickets in advance, .

    What can be bought in a push cart selling vegetables, people go to Supermarkets of even Hyper Markets to buy Vegetables.

    Servants , Servant maids are engaged, in many cases as ‘living in ‘are engaged in house hold work and are paid anywhere between 5000 to Rs 10,000 per month.

    Often I find these maids have children who have left their children in Free Hostels for study.

    And they  seem to relish their jobs.

    Those who employ them, the neo rich, flaunt their money carelessly.

    This is restricted to Homes.

    One would this group in the malls, where they spend money recklessly, paying at least 200 % more for the same product that can be bought very economically outside.

    Whom do you find at these Malls as Sales girls and Salesmen?

    People of the same class whom on engages  for work at Home.

    These boys and girls are of the same age group that buys things flaunting their money in a vulgar fashion.

    These use a Five hundred Rupee or a Thousand Rupee note very carelessly and often leave this at Home around every place.

    Leave alone the issue of tempting these needy into stealing, are these people aware the resentment they are building in the people who are working for them?

    This, on a Macro Scale is being witnessed in the Society, Government,Media.

    The Government aided by Media is obsessed with stock market and Gold Prices and you find extensive coverage of this news next only to Rapes ans Scams in the Media.

    There seems to be no reporting on the issues of the poor or their grievances.

    I have heard, with out their knowledge, the way these less fortunate look at these things.

    Without going into specifics,  can say that they are seething with anger at these people, the system.

    While we try to convince ourselves we have achieved what we have by hard work, they think that we have usurped these opportunities from them and the system is designed by us to cheat them, deprive them.

    What they are waiting is an Opportunity and a Demagogue of Leader r to ignite a Revolution, which I feel will be cataclysmic.

    On the national level we think we are growing.

    But we are disrupting the Social order.

    Whatever we may say it is a fact that the world is controlled by the Rich than ever before and is run by the Rich , of the Rich  and for the Rich.

    Read this.

    50 % of World wealth is controlled by 85 Rich people.!

    ”

    The world’s wealthiest people aren’t known for travelling by bus, but if they fancied a change of scene then the richest 85 people on the globe – who between them control as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population put together – could squeeze onto a single double-decker.

    The extent to which so much global wealth has become corralled by a virtual handful of the so-called ‘global elite’ is exposed in a new report from Oxfam on Monday. It warned that those richest 85 people across the globe share a combined wealth of £1tn, as much as the poorest 3.5 billion of the world’s population.

    Working for the Few - Oxfam reportSource: F. Alvaredo, A. B. Atkinson, T. Piketty and E. Saez, (2013) ‘The World Top Incomes Database’, http://topincomes.g-mond.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/ Only includes countries with data in 1980 and later than 2008. Photograph: Oxfam

    The wealth of the 1% richest people in the world amounts to $110tn (£60.88tn), or 65 times as much as the poorest half of the world, added the development charity, which fears this concentration of economic resources is threatening political stability and driving up social tensions.

    It’s a chilling reminder of the depths of wealth inequality as political leaders and top business people head to the snowy peaks of Davos for this week’s World Economic Forum. Few, if any, will be arriving on anything as common as a bus, with private jets and helicopters pressed into service as many of the world’s most powerful people convene to discuss the state of the global economy over four hectic days of meetings, seminars and parties in the exclusive ski resort.

    Winnie Byanyima, the Oxfam executive director who will attend the Davos meetings, said: “It is staggering that in the 21st Century, half of the world’s population – that’s three and a half billion people – own no more than a tiny elite whose numbers could all fit comfortably on a double-decker bus.”

    Oxfam also argues that this is no accident either, saying growing inequality has been driven by a “power grab” by wealthy elites, who have co-opted the political process to rig the rules of the economic system in their favour.

    In the report, entitled Working For The Few (summary here), Oxfam warned that the fight against poverty cannot be won until wealth inequality has been tackled.

    “Widening inequality is creating a vicious circle where wealth and power are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, leaving the rest of us to fight over crumbs from the top table,” Byanyima said.

    Oxfam called on attendees at this week’s World Economic Forum to take a personal pledge to tackle the problem by refraining from dodging taxes or using their wealth to seek political favours.

    As well as being morally dubious, economic inequality can also exacerbate other social problems such as gender inequality, Oxfam warned. Davos itself is also struggling in this area, with the number of female delegates actually dropping from 17% in 2013 to 15% this year.

    How richest use their wealth to capture opportunities

    Polling for Oxfam’s report found people in countries around the world – including two-thirds of those questioned in Britain – believe that the rich have too much influence over the direction their country is heading

    Source:

    http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jan/20/oxfam-85-richest-people-half-of-the-world

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  • Stress In IT Industry Causes

    Though the Stress factor is responsible for suicide and Divorces, to cite some areas, it affects the people in  the IT Industry more.

     

    As mentioned my earlier post it is the not normal working rhythm as a consequence,irregular food habits, lack of physical exercise,varying sleep pattern, setting up of high and unrealistic goals( most of them set for  to suit the Company’s needs,assumption of fake IDs  as in the case of Call Centers and BPOs,less time for persoanl interaction with the family(includes, apart from wife and children, parents and relatives, high Income at a young age, not finding enough time to manage family affairs, Peer pressure, multiple chains of commands and reporting and constant thinking of job all the time(the IT people would deny this) are some of the pressure points.

    Stress and Anxiety.
    Stress Reaction

     

    “If you’re in a position within the IT business, you’ll know that you’re expected to come to grips with huge amounts of information. So it’s normal that, from time to time, you’ll find yourself out of your comfort zone. How do you tell the difference between normal stress and something more serious?

    The signs of stress

    While the signs of stress can vary significantly from person to person, cognitive impairment is common. Indecision, forgetfulness, negative thinking, loss of confidence and a lack of concentration are all classic symptons. Physical symptoms can include hair-loss, muscle-tension, sweating and nail-biting. Stressed people make more mistakes, smoke or drink more, are more prone to accidents, and suffer from insomnia, loss of appetite and self-neglect.

    So how do you combat stress? First of all, keep active and maintain your interests outside of work – many stressed people give up on exercise or hobbies, but not having an outlet for stress can make things even worse. Try to take a more positive approach to situations: adapting to change and viewing new situations in a more positive light will be crucial to dealing with stressors. And if you do recognise some of the symptoms listed, visit your GP and explain any concerns and symptoms.

    As career consultant Sherridan Hughes points out, “No working environment is pressure-free and jobs in IT are no exception. How you adapt to changing circumstances is key to your ability to handle potentially stressful situations in a more positive way.”

    If this ‘stressed out’ feeling is about too much work and not enough time, you may want to reconsider how you deal with people from other areas of the business making demands, all assuming that their request should take priority.

    Log each request and attend to them in the order they were received, making sure any legal or regulatory pieces of work get done quickly.

    Some elements to consider for effective prioritisation in IT:

    1. Who is making the request and how senior are they?

    2. Is it a ‘must-do’ or just a ‘nice to do’? Is it a legal, regulatory or industry standard that needs to be met? Will it hinder your competitiveness as a firm until it is done?

    3. How does it fit in with the company strategy and priorities?

    4. What are the dependencies? Who does it affect if it doesn’t happen immediately?

    Of course, it’s vital to ask your line manager’s advice about prioritising requests, but he or she will be more impressed if you come to them with a suggested solution, rather than just a problem.

    Rethinking your life at work

    Of course, if you’ve taken all the suggested steps but you’re still aren’t enjoying your work, then perhaps it’s time to consider a job move.

    You might prefer a different role within IT or a different type of organisation – perhaps of a different size or in a different industry. Sherridan Hughes adds, “Being mismatched to your role or organisation can result in significant feelings of stress. Within IT there are many different roles: web developer jobs, for example, are more creative, while IT project manager jobs are more people-focused. Consider your areas of strength and where you would like your IT career to develop, and then plan a move accordingly.”

    Many people have been sitting tight during the recession and still believe it is ‘all firing and no hiring’ in the market – but you may be pleasantly surprised to find a new IT job that is a better match for your skills and personality – as well as leaving you a lot less stressed out.”

    http://www.cwjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/it-contracting/handling-stress

     

     

    The handling of this calls for a different Perspective to work Culture,where one learns to  distinguish between Job,Work and Career.

     

    Evaluation of personal Dispositions, Aptitude and Attitudes are called for.

     

    to be contiued

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  • Nine ways IT can help organizations ‘go green’ and reduce paper consumption

    The liquid in printer cartridges – which carries a price tag of about $10,000 per gallon – costs far more than the most expensive bottle of champagne any of us will buy over the next few weeks. And despite the popularity of recycling, each year millions of empty toner and inkjet cartridges used in laser printers, fax machines, and copiers are thrown in the trash, destined for landfills and incinerators.

    As more enterprises look for ways to ‘go green,’ many do not realize that re-aligning basic information technology (IT) practices can help play a part in becoming more environmentally responsible.

    One way for IT teams to help reduce waste is to implement new approaches within daily processes. It’s not enough to reduce the amount of paper we use, as beneficial as that is to the environmental and the cost of doing business. As business processes move toward being completely electronic, enterprises need to think about ways to reduce our “paper footprint.”

    Continued use of paper to record critical business transactions can weigh down organizations because of the cost of paper and printing, compliance risks and the environmental challenges of disposing of paper. Yet, there are fairly simple steps that organizations can take to reduce paper consumption. They are:

    Use business analytics software: Integrate software that automates manual reporting and analysis, and electronically distributes reports over the Web or on mobile devices. One mid-size company estimates that it saved enough paper to cover 5,519 football fields on a yearly basis simply by moving manual-based financial and operational reporting processes to a business intelligence system.
    Re-align business processes: Automate and streamline business processes among people and systems, reducing paper consumption by eliminating unnecessary papers trails and content storage costs.
    Move business tasks to an electronic format: Encourage non-technical employees to try electronic forms and survey software that does not require an IT department’s resources. Traditionally, compiling forms and surveys required several technical workers weeks, not minutes, at a significant cost in an IT department’s time and salaries. For example, electronic forms are currently used by more than 1.4 million Army personnel worldwide, yielding a projected $1.3 billion in cost savings to the U.S. federal government.
    Monitor and regulate printing: Encourage employees to edit and review documents in electronic form, while promoting a paper-free environment. For example, don’t ask employees to print meeting agendas. Instead, use whiteboard or laptops to take note during meetings.
    Eliminate the unnecessary printing of documents: Prevent IT teams from writing and then printing massive documents that are quickly out-of-date as requirements change. Use software to make requirements an electronic process, providing teams with the ability to visually capture requirements for a project using sketches, storyboards, comment threads and rich-text editors. An IBM “No Paper Weight” study indicates that when companies stop printing their “born digital” documents, paper consumption can be reduced by 80 to 90 percent.
    Review software code – online: Don’t print out code for “code review” – like proof reading a paper for grammar. Worldwide, more than 80 billion lines of code are written annually, representing a “mountain” of paper. Manual inspection is time-consuming and error-prone. IDC estimates the cost of fixing software defects at $5.2 million to $22 million annually, depending on an organization’s size.
    Increase Data Center Capacity: Grow the capacity of an enterprise’s data center while reducing spiraling energy costs through facilities design, power and cooling infrastructure, active energy management and efficient, scalable systems.
    Introduce Collaboration Tools: Use team collaboration software that lets people share links instead of attachments or hard copy documents, reducing storage and paper requirements.
    Use mobile devices. Today more than ever, as mobile software applications have grown in popularity, employees can complete most all of their business tasks by using their mobile devices. They can review, read and work on documents and other business tasks while on the go, reducing the amount of forms they might have printed in the past.
    Consumption of large amounts of paper within organizations can lead to redundancy, increased costs, increased time and decreased quality. By making a New Year’s resolution to make at least some of these simple strategies, organizations can take steps to improve business processes and cost savings, while embracing “green IT,” making themselves a more socially responsible and attractive employer and vendor.
    http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-373661.html