TCS CEO: Our hiring will be strong

In an interview with ET Now, N Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD, TCS, shares his business outlook. Excerpts:

ET Now: TCS has maintained time and again that FY15 will be a better year than last year. So what is on ground that has changed really? Do you see clients being more open to spending? What has changed from last year?

N Chandrasekaran: The first one is that we see a lot of traction in every market we operate. Europe is doing extremely positive and we are seeing growth in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, including Japan.

Second one, digital is driving a lot of growth. Customers this year are going to be spending money on digital. Discretionary spend is going up. We are not seeing any slowdown in decision making. So as the year has started, customers are beginning to engage in conversations equally on discretionary spend as in the other types of work.

The third thing is that in terms of the simplification deals, a large number of transformation deals are happening. So, how to transform the existing investment in IT infrastructure so that it becomes simplified? Both the number of deals and size of the deals are becoming attractive.

ET Now: What is the one thing in your mind that can play the party pooper? Even for TCS, how much of a negative impact do you see the domestic market volatility having on IT companies?

N Chandrasekaran: If you see last year, though we did not give any negative sentiment, our growth in the domestic market has been pretty muted. This year I have already given a statement saying that this being an election year, we believe that the next two quarters will be muted. When we say that this year is going to be better year than the next year, overall we factor that in.

ET Now: I know you have said TCS has raised its hiring target in fact, but do you think given the shift to a nonlinear growth model, the industry and even TCS can keep up this momentum?

N Chandrasekaran: I can talk for TCS and we have had large numbers every year. Even this fiscal FY'14, we originally started with 40,000-45,000 and then 50,000, finally we have projected 55,000 as we end the year. At the campuses, we are going off-campus hiring. We have started already. So our utilisations are pretty solid at the 83-84% levels all through the year. So given that, our hiring will be strong.

ET Now: On the US immigration bill, the consensus is that the peers have more or less receded by the fact that more and more countries are turning protectionist. What is your view on this?

N Chandrasekaran: We are running a business, that always seems that you are going to watch out for. The visa situation and regulations per se are something that you have got to always look for given the fact that there is still unemployment around the world. We will continue to meet with stakeholders, present our points of view, work with other companies, work with Nasscom in expressing the business impact and so on. But overall I would say that this is an area we need to watch out for and then adjust ourselves accordingly.

ET Now: TCS has maintained its position as a market leader. The last quarter domestic market did not perform very well and at the same time your peers like Infosys or Cognizantthey are all catching up. D you think your position as the market leader may be peaking now?
N Chandrasekaran: I do not think about these things. As far as I am concerned, we had a spectacular growth. We had cautioned that the India revenue is going to be muted and is going to be negative and it was. Our international growth last quarter was 3.8%, which is an all-time high for the December quarter. So we continue to do well, continue to see opportunities, continue to worry about how and what difference that we can make to clients.

ET Now: But given that your rivals are catching up really now, do you even worry slightly that it will be difficult to keep up this momentum going forward?
N Chandrasekaran: I continue to worry about what I can do for clients better.

ET Now: TCS is an over $10-billion company. You had broad-based growth across all verticals and segments. Where will the next $10 billion come from for TCS?
N Chandrasekaran: Broad-base growth.

ET Now: Across which verticals? What are you betting on, what is the one thing?
N Chandrasekaran: All our verticals will grow and we will grow in all markets. We have got a very diversified strategy and digital will be a driver of growth and the large transformation deal in simplification will be a driver of growth.

Windows Phone may soon run Android apps

 Microsoft is reportedly considering bringing Android apps to Windows Phone and Windows.

According to a report by The Verge, the company is seriously debating if it should allow Android apps inside the Windows and Windows Phone Stores. However, some inside the company are not in favour of a rival platform making inroads and believe that this could harm the Windows Phone platform.

Citing sources, the report also claims that the chipmaker Intel has been pushing Microsoft to provide Android apps in its Windows Store. It's worth pointing out that Intel has already demonstrated its dual-OS concept that runs both Windows and Android.

Software company BlueStacks has also been developing its emulation solution to allow Android apps to run on Windows and it ships its software with Lenovo and Asus Windows devices. It's not clear if the company is also in talks with Microsoft for the same.

It would be interesting to see how Microsoft implements Android apps on the platform. BlackBerry's BlackBerry 10 OS (and PlayBook OS) also supports Android apps but developers need to submit the apps separately to BlackBerry (or users need to sideload apps through third-party tools). Due to this, users don't get the latest version of Android apps on BlackBerry. The compatibility has not helped BlackBerry 10 grow its market share, so this may not be a sure shot formula for success.

There would be other issues as well including compatibility problems with apps that use Google services.

The biggest issue that Microsoft needs to address is to prevent erosion of developers' and consumers' trust in the Windows Phone platform, which is lagging behind Android and iOS in terms of both features as well as apps.

Incidentally, Microsoft-owned Nokia is also reportedly launching an Android smartphone dubbed Nokia X. The phone is said to run a forked version of Android, devoid of Google services.

iPhone 6 images leaked online

With speculations rife that Appleis all set to enter the big-screen smartphone market, tech community is eagerly awaiting how the next-generation of iPhones will look. And the wait seems to be over, as the first alleged images of iPhone 6 have surfaced online.

The images come courtesy Twitter user Sonny Dickson and mornray886. Dickson has previously leaked several Apple gadgets accurately, including iPad mini and iPad Air. Both set of images show identical design for the upcoming iPhone 6, likely to be launched in September this year.

In terms of design, iPhone 6 will look quite similar to the currently available iPad Air. The pictures show that the iPhone will be much thinner than the iPhone 5S, but will maintain similar design language, including placement of hardware buttons and ports.

There have been rumours that Apple is working on eliminating bezels on the screen's sides; the leaked images too show that the smartphone will indeed have an edge-to-edge display. Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S5, set to be launched on February 24, is also reported to have bezel-less display.

Apple is reportedly working on two iPhone models for this year, one with a 4.7-inch screen and other with 5.5-inch display. This will be the first time that the company will venture into the phablet territory, which is dominated by arch rival Samsung. Other rumoured features of the next-generation iPhone include health-centred apps, 13MP camera, solar charging, scratch-resistant sapphire screen and faster Wi-Fi.

LG unveils Galaxy Note 3 rival G Pro 2

South Korea's LG Electronics has unveiled the large-screen smartphone G Pro 2, seeking to woo customers ahead of a rival offering from market leader Samsung Electronics later this month. Apple is also widely expected to launch its new iPhone with a bigger screen this year.

The G Pro 2 boasts a 5.9-inch screen, bigger than the 5.5-inch screen of the previous model and one of the biggest on the market. It also has a 1-watt speaker system, a first for smartphones and will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.

The unveiling of the new G Pro had been expected later this month. LG's earlier timing may have been prompted by market leader Samsung's decision to unveil a version of its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone on February 24 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, three weeks earlier than expected.

The G Pro 2 will be on the market in Korea in late February. LG, the world's fourth-biggest smartphone maker by sales, did not announce a global sales target for the phone.

This model will compete against other major phablets, such as Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Nokia Lumia 1520, HTC One Max and Sony Xperia Z Ultra.

The company has also teased the launch of the mini version of its LG G2 smartphone, which will be unveiled on February 24.

LG Electronics has improved products and sales sharply in recent years and its global smartphone sales jumped 81% in 2013, according to data from Strategy Analytics. Even so, heavy promotion costs for high-end models has seen its phone division post two consecutive quarters of losses.

Credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service downgraded LG Electronics' credit ratings last week, citing persistent pricing pressures and the high costs of marketing new products, particularly mobile phones.

A Guide to the Job Market in 2034

Whether you're an aspiring lawyer, policeman or programmer, you should be aware that at some point — maybe a decade from now, maybe two, perhaps less — many jobs in those industries will be replaced by an algorithm.
That's what many economists predict and in some cases it looks like it will happen very soon. For instance, algorithms currently perform some tasks previously executed by paralegals, patent attorneys and contract lawyers. In Doha, Sao Paulo and Beijing, municipal governments use cheap sensors on pipes, pumps and other water infrastructure components to watch out for water leaks, a practice that has led some to speculate that fewer law enforcement workers will be needed on patrol once more sensors are deployed. Even programming — once the epitome of a safe-as-milk job in the 21st century — could be taken over by the bots as machine learning lets algorithms make and optimize design choices in coding.
All told, some 47% of U.S. employment is at risk of being automated over the next two decades, according to a 2013 study by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne of the University of Oxford.
All of this means that if you're in college now, it's diabolically tricky to try to pick a career that you'll still be doing when you're 40, assuming that the world is still around in some form or another. While economists are a bit hazy when it comes to predicting new occupations that might replace the faltering old ones, they do offer some general guidelines about career development.

High Touch

One growth area is so-called "high touch" jobs like personal trainers, home health aides and wedding planners. These are jobs, in other words, that can't be outsourced to India or China. Rhys Grossman, a managing director of consultancy Russell Reynolds Associates, predicts that some of the new jobs created in the next few years will be along the lines of Joachin Phoenix's character in Her, who wrote letters on behalf of people who were too busy to do so themselves.
Matt McGraw, CEO and founder of The Lions, a tech recruiting firm, says high-touch extends to the sales profession. McGraw says as more consumers get access to data that was previously proprietary, a smaller percentage will need hand-holding, but those that do will be willing to pay for the value-add. "In 2034 instead of 100,000 real estate agents there might be 5,000," he says. "They'll be working with consumers who need high touch."

Creativity and Ideation

"I can only recommend that young people continue to gain the kind of cognitive and creative skills that give them a competitive edge over machines." That's the advice of Osborne, a co-author of the Oxford study. "In particular, and I may be biased, but occupations revolving around creative uses of data are likely to be resistant to automation for some time."
The key word here is "creative." If you're contemplating a career in which grunt work is the norm — like accounting, legal work and clerical jobs — your job may well be replaced by an algorithm by the time you're ready to hit the work force.
That's not say that those jobs will be completely automated. Picture, for instance, the self-checkout systems in the supermarket. They may be good for most transactions, but you need a human there when the system doesn't recognize an object or freezes up for one reason or another. Similarly, a software program may do a great job processing tax returns or legal papers, but a pair of human eyes is necessary to catch flaws that might get by a machine.
But being creative is not the same thing as being cognizant. In addition to being on hand in case the bots break down, Brynjolfsson says the economy will still need people to come up with new things, "make leaps into new areas" and synthesize information in new ways. In other words, starting up your own company will be less of a gamble and more of a logical career choice.

Leaders

Leadership is another skill that can't be outsourced to an algorithm. For Brynjolfsson leadership means "motivating people, persuading, caring." Tuck Rickards, another managing director at Russell Reynolds Associates, agrees that leaders will be in great demand, but not middle managers. "

My gut says the number of large established companies with middle management could go down

My gut says the number of large established companies with middle management could go down," he says. Instead, Rickards envisions hot-shot CEO types who might bounce from project to project rather than run a company per se. The reason? Technology like cloud computing and automation will let small staffs do work that previously required many hands. Rickards points out that we're seeing this already with companies like Instagram that sold for $700 million in 2012 and had just 13 employees at the time. Similarly, Snapchat, which has reportedly drawn a $3 billion bid from Facebook, has around 20 employees.

Dexterity and Motor Skills

There are some things that machines are great at — like analyzing legal documents — and some that they aren't. One such area is manual tasks that are easy for humans, like picking a dime up off the floor. "It turns out, that's incredibly hard if not impossible for robots," Brynjolfsson says.
Hence the expected viability of barbers, gardeners, cooks and other types of manual labor that would befuddle a bot.

Long Tail

The standard advice to someone embarking on a career is to do something you love and do it better than anyone else. Gazing ahead to the largely automated workplace of 2034, economists offer the same recommendation.
The journalism profession is an apt illustration of this phenomenon. We are now at the point where algorithms can compose basic news stories. However "

You can't get an algorithm to do a Watergate

You can't get an algorithm to do a Watergate," as Grossman says. Of course, to break a Watergate-type story you have to be very good at what you do, not to mention persistent. Those types of breakthroughs don't come at a job you're only lukewarm about. "It's important to pursue something you're passionate about," says Brynjolfsson. "it's hard to be really, really good at something." The flip side of this is that — as we've seen with middle managers — those who are mediocre will have a harder time. However, employees should also consider the Long Tail. "There are global audiences for small niches now," Brynjolfsson says. For instance, if you're a journalist, you might consider specializing in a somewhat arcane topic — like green technology, for example — rather than trying to go toe-to-toe with The Washington Post and The New York Times on national political stories.

Feudalism 2.0?

Workplace automation, fewer jobs and an increasingly winner-take-all society do not necessarily bode well for democracy. In 2013, the top 85 individuals in the world owned more wealth than the bottom 50% of a planet of 7 billion. Conflate that with the 47% claim and for some you have the makings of Feudalism 2.0.
While that's possible, the economists who have looked into the issue present a more optimistic scenario. Osborne, for instance, predicts that many of the 47% of jobs marked for extinction will be replaced by other, new jobs.
"Our society has undergone enormous technological change over the last few hundred years, without corresponding increases in unemployment," he says. "For example, over the 20th century, the fraction of workers in agriculture in the U.S. went from around 40% to less than 2%, but, nonetheless, those workers found new jobs in industries not even imagined at the beginning of the century."
Brynjolfsson is similarly upbeat, noting that too many subscribe to the false narrative that technology controls us. Actually, it's the other way around, he says. "I could see a world where we have a lot more leisure," he says. "In 2034, extreme poverty could be eliminated globally. It's within our reach." However, "I could also see a world where there's more inequality. We need to change the conversation to see what kind of outcome we want. We have a lot more power than we think."

LinkedIn: 81% of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Use Social Media

New research from LinkedIn found that the majority of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are turning to social media for growth.
Roughly 81% of SMBs are using social media, according to a LinkedIn study released Thursday, and of those that use social, 94% do so for marketing purposes

See also: 10 Startups to Watch in 2014

Social media is even more important to 'hyper growth' companies, or those that self-reported 'significant' year over year revenue growth. Of the hyper growth companies surveyed (about 16% of the entire group), 91% said social media helped 'increase awareness' of their brand, while 82% said it helped them generate 'new leads.' Nearly three quarters of the hyper growth companies increased their social media budgets last year

Google developing 10Gb broadband

A Google executive announced that the company is working on broadband technology that is ten times faster than its current fibre offering.
The search giant is developing a 10Gb broadband offering, according to Patrick Pichette, CFO of Google, who revealed the plans at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet conference this week.
He said the speed boost is "going to happen" anyway, but that it may take over a decade for that to "naturally" occur. When asked why Google wouldn't make it available in just three years, he said, "That's what we're working on. There's no need to wait."

Google Fiber

The planned internet boost is substantially faster than the already impressive 1Gb Google Fiber service it offers to the lucky people in Kansas City.
To put this speed into perspective, a high-definition video would take roughly 22 minutes to download at 5Mbps speeds, which unfortunately is the maximum some people in the UK have access to. With 1Gb connections, it would take just seven seconds to download the same file. Now imagine speeds ten times that.
Google is currently rolling out its fibre network to Provo, Utah, and is looking to expand to Austin, Texas. Eventually, it will attempt even wider coverage, and the 1Gbps speeds are just the start. It has yet to disclose any plans to expand overseas.

IBM to cut 15,000 jobs, India operations to be affected

IBM has started a restructuring process, which would see as many as 15,000 jobs being cut globally, including India.

NEW DELHI: Technology giant IBM has started a restructuring process, which would see as many as 15,000 jobs being cut globally, including India, Brazil and the European region.

"The estimate of jobs cut globally is 15,000," international coordinator at the Alliance@IBM (official IBM employees union) Lee Conrad told PTI.

Last moth, the US-based firm had said its top executives will forego their bonuses and the company will initiate a $1 billion restructuring programme in Q1 2014 as it grapples with declining sales of servers and storage systems.

Though the exact number of job cuts in each of the geographies is not clear, the impact could be huge in India as IBM has over 1 lakh employees in the country.

Globally, IBM employs over 4 lakh people. "(There are) no number yet on India job cuts. We do not have a clear number of employees by location because IBM does not disclose that data," Conrad said adding that the IBM Global Union Alliance will be meeting soon to discuss its response.

When contacted, an IBM India spokesperson said: "As reported in our recent earnings briefing, IBM continues to rebalance its workforce to meet the changing requirements of its clients and to pioneer new, high value segments of the IT industry."

The spokesperson further said: "To that end, IBM is positioning itself to lead in areas such as Cloud, Analytics and Cognitive Computing and investing in these priority areas. For example, we have recently committed $1 billion to our new Watson unit and $1.2 billion to expand our cloud footprint around the world."

According to sources, over 50 employees at IBM's Systems Technology Group (STG) in Bangalore were handed pink slips on February 12 as part of its global 'Resource Action' or restructuring programme.