Breakfast buffet at the Royal Orchid. more pics
Wipro HealthScience
Wipro HealthScience does radiology services by getting everything done, except sign off on the test results and advice the patient. They call it “collaborative radiology.” They get the digital data from the client (i.e.: X-ray, MRI, etc.), their applications turn the 2-D data into 3-D, their junior staff perform the preliminary analysis and report, their senior analysts review the analysis and make corrections, and then they send the report back to the client. The senior analysts are four certified radiologists, who give the company credibility.
They reduce the number of days between the exam and the start of treatment by offering “night hawk services” so that the analysis is done overnight and is ready for the client the next morning. Of course, this is due to the time zone difference. But the service is actually offered 24/7.
This was very similar to a project I had done with a group in an Entrepreneurship class. In that class, we looked into doing teleradiology for mammography. GE already has the equipment that can do digital mammography. However, because of the higher resolution required for mammography, it’s still difficult to do the analysis remotely. The compression technology required to transfer that data without significantly losing important detail is still not commercially viable.
When I asked about mammography, our host said that they do not do mammography at this time and, yes, it was because it requires a higher resolution. They stay away from litigious areas and projects where they cannot deliver a good quality. Besides, there are not enough digital mammography exams done in the US yet.
The company (or at least this division) is very humble about their own shortcomings. In his slide about magazines that had written up about them, he said that those were “places where we were beaten up.”
Sapient
Sapient is the most impressive company we’ve seen so far in this trip. It’s not the beauty of their facilities or the refreshments they served us. In fact, they didn’t serve us refreshments! It was the way they made us feel because of their attention to detail. While other companies talk about how they deliver quality, Sapient demonstrated how they deliver quality. Their mission: "To do whatever it takes to deliver the right business solution, on time and under budget." They do whatever the client needs.
However, they are picky about their clients. They choose clients who “push the envelope” in their respective industries. And their goal is to help get the clients where they want to go, while breaking new ground. They also only accept projects that are measurable so that they can tell if they have done a good job.
Their mantra is that repeatable innovations require breakthrough thinking, disciplined execution, and high-performing teams. The “breakthrough thinking” is not just a motto; it sounds like they actually set aside time for thinking things through before acting. The goal for the thinking is to find ways to do things better, even though they’ve done it effectively in the past.
They are so confident in their ability that they would forgo the agreed-on fee if they didn’t deliver what they said they would on time and under budget. And so far, 83% of their projects are on time and under budget, compared to 29% average for the industry.
After the presentation, we split up into three groups and we were given a talk about three of the different projects they have and how they manage their team communications, planning, and work implementation. Each person is responsible for his/her own individual project plan.
It seems like a high-pressure job, but the people we spoke with didn’t seem overworked at all. In fact, they were very energetic and enthusiastic. The fact that they choose their work is probably one of the contributing factors. They feel more in control of their work.
My group talked about an energy company but what we learned is how they manage their work with that company, how fast they respond to change requests, how they manage their communications internally and with the customer, and how they manage resource allocation (capacity management, knowledge dispersion, or task prioritization). When we joined the rest of the class, someone in each group went up front to report on what they learned. There were overlaps but there were also interesting tidbits that each group learned.
Observations, insights, and lessons learned
TLAs:
BPO: business process outsourcing
KPO: knowledge process outsourcing
CPO: clinical process outsourcing
Sapient’s policy with people management is “alignment, not agreement.” They believe that if they align the goals of the employee with the goals of the project, everything else falls in place. They have great trust in each individual to do what’s right. They expect people to think – “We don’t hire coders; we hire consultants.” That’s empowerment. And that’s a powerful tool. I’ve seen it in Microsoft to some degree, but managers tend to need more control and so they micromanage. This is the exact opposite of micromanaging and, from what I saw, it was very effective.
The hiring-consultants piece manifested in the way they executed the presentation. They were very polished and focused on us. They were the only company that treated us individually – first, they asked each of us what we expected, and in the end, the asked each of us again for feedback. Although we got name tags at other places as well, this is the only place where our hosts addressed each of us by name. The presentation was concise and their energy was palpable throughout. If this is how they treat their customers, it’s no wonder they’re very successful.
Sufi and sarees
The Leela Palace. more pics
Most people in our class went to Ginseng Restaurant in the C level of the hotel. They later went to a bar in Leela Palace. However, Wendy, Mahdad, and I had some shopping to do. Wendy needed bags or wrapping paper to wrap the host gifts because the boxes got crumpled during our flight. Mahdad needed a suitcase, a saree for his wife Cheryl, and a kurta for himself. I needed to buy inexpensive sarees for the women to wear for our farewell dinner. I had polled the women to see who would want to wear a saree, and I got different reactions, although all were willing to borrow one and wear it if everybody else would.
I chatted with Sunitha, a guest services manager at the hotel. She said that the locals would be honored that foreigners appreciate their culture by wearing sarees. But it has to be worn the right way. Unlike the tour guide in Delhi, Sunitha thinks that wearing jeans underneath is not a good idea because the saree “wouldn’t fall right.” And, besides, it would be difficult to go to the bathroom with pants underneath. She recommended getting an underskirt or wearing any skirt with an elastic waist. She wouldn’t be at work on Friday but she said there would be female housekeepers who would be able to help us put on the sarees. She recommended Deepam’s Silk Sarees on MG (Mahatma Ghandhi) Road.
Well, we decided to get a quick bite on the way to the shopping center. Mahdad had found out about a Persian restaurant within walking distance, so off we went. I was sorry I didn’t put on my sneakers; it was a long walk. “Sufi” is both a restaurant and a museum. The restaurant was actually just the courtyard and the upstairs terrace. We were led upstairs and we passed some old Persian rugs hanging on the wall, as well as other art.
There were lots of mosquitoes outdoors, so a waiter brought out a mosquito coil and set it on the floor. But the mosquitoes persisted so we put the mosquito coil up on the table and asked for another one. The waiters smiled; they probably thought it was funny that we were so afraid of mosquitoes that we would rather tolerate the smoke from the mosquito coil than suffer a bite. Well, we had good reason; I didn’t get my shots or malaria pills.
We all ordered kababs. Mahdad got lamb, while Wendy and I got chicken. The chicken was bland. The lamb, on the other hand, was excellent.
The menu also talked about how to drink hot tea. You put the sugar cube in your mouth just behind your teeth and you sip the tea through it. So, Mahdad and I ordered the hot tea. But the sugar cube wasn’t the right kind. Mahdad said that the right kind will not melt easily; it’s like hard candy. But what the waiters gave us were regular sugar cubes so the tea became too sweet. So, Mahdad invited us to his home so we can experience Persian tea with the right kind of sugar cubes.
When we were almost done, we met a young good-looking Persian couple but they didn’t speak English well, so they spoke mostly with Mahdad. They were so friendly that they even offered us a taste of the dish they ordered. We found out that they’re students and they just moved to India six months ago. They were married very young. The wife just turned 21 and they were married a year and a half ago. The husband is about 22, I think. They were so happy to meet another Persian that they invited Mahdad to their home, but he told them that, unfortunately, we were leaving in a couple of days. He really would have loved to go, otherwise.
On our way out, we noticed a couple in another table with a hookah. I asked a waiter if it was indeed a hookah and he started telling me what flavors they had. And the flavors he mentioned sounded like flavors of tea, including mint. Who’da thought? Smoking in fruit flavors!
We took an auto rickshaw to some malls, but they were already closing, so we didn’t get any shopping done anyway. When we got back to the hotel, Wendy talked to the front desk personnel and they were able to wrap the gifts for her.
Adventure of the day
Well, it’s not exactly an adventure for me. Mani treated us to a coconut bar, a street vendor who sold young coconut. With all the warnings we’ve heard about not eating the local fruit, it took a while for some people to feel comfortable about trying it. I, having grown up with it, was among the first to accept a coconut with a straw through the hole at the top. My coconut was very young so I was able to scrape the flesh with my straw but because the straw was too narrow, I couldn’t suck the flesh through it. So, with gestures, I asked the vendor to cut it open. He figured out what I wanted to do, and he even chopped a small piece from the husk to use as a scoop. Then he scrapped the flesh and gave me the makeshift scoop with the coconut flesh. It was very good! Afterwards, Mani asked how it was. I said it reminded me of home.
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