Its the second MMS for me and I'm enjoying it a lot.
My mind was drawn to a comparison of MoMo and MMS formats. MoMo format (as in Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad) usually has one presentation/theme a meeting and intense discussion about that one topic only. It also has a fairly high frequency with one meeting a month. MMS on the other hand has no theme and last at least one whole day. In fact, it is like a BarCamp around the theme of mobility. So, one sees a whole lot of variety in a single day.
In summary its depth vs width. Take your pick.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Jet: The response
Jet's response was slow in coming. Probably too involved with the abortive Sahara acquisition. When they did, it was essentially gap filling:
1. In flight entertainment introduced in selected flights. I haven't been on such a flight so no direct evidence. However, I've heard that its switched off the minute the landing announcement is made unlike KF where at least the audio channels continue even after landing!
2. premium treatment for the "super-platinum" customers. These are typically CXOs. jet treats them differently by marking them "MAAS" which stands for meet and assist. These people are met by an air hostess from the time they check-in to the time they enter the plane and then from the time dis-embarkation to time one leaves the terminal. These people engage you in a conversation while a porter carries your luggage.
3. The variety of food has increased in Jet's first class.
So has jet's response been inadequate? Or does its response say: I don't care?
1. In flight entertainment introduced in selected flights. I haven't been on such a flight so no direct evidence. However, I've heard that its switched off the minute the landing announcement is made unlike KF where at least the audio channels continue even after landing!
2. premium treatment for the "super-platinum" customers. These are typically CXOs. jet treats them differently by marking them "MAAS" which stands for meet and assist. These people are met by an air hostess from the time they check-in to the time they enter the plane and then from the time dis-embarkation to time one leaves the terminal. These people engage you in a conversation while a porter carries your luggage.
3. The variety of food has increased in Jet's first class.
So has jet's response been inadequate? Or does its response say: I don't care?
Kingfisher: The Rampup
Kingfisher quickly ramped up its no of planes and routes. But the real innovative aspects were:
1. First Class
2. Cash frequent flyer advantage
3. King Club
The KF first class is really something. The experience starts from the time one enters the airport as the baggage is carried for you to the plane. The ride from the terminal to the plane is in a car or in a bus fitted with sofas instead of the usual coach. The seats are comfortable and adjustable. In addition to the being flatter compared to jet seats, the KF first seats have adjustable lumber support and foot support (though some of those haven't worked for me many times!). A TV screen can be brought out but is a bit painful to handle. The service is excellent with more choice in the drinks and food. The presentation of the food is great. As far as food and drinks are concerned, its like being in a 5-star in the sky. The experience continues on landing with the special bus and the luggage being carried to your car.
Kingfisher also realised that Jet's lead was essentially due to the corporate traveller who stuck with Jet because of the accumulated Jetmiles. Its attack on that aspect was fantastic. KF realised that most corporate travellers take the first flight out and are back the same day. So first they matched their flight times within 15 mins of Jet times. Second, they offered a thousand ruppees if one took a flight back the same day! Thus, one got cash of Rs 1,000 in hand instead of cashing the jetmiles later. It was of course controversial as the tickets were purchased by the company and the money collected by the employee. There were also tax issues. In the end, the scheme got dropped and a frequent flyer scheme introduced.
The frequent flyer scheme was also innovative. KF realised that the immediate benefit for most people was the ability to tele check-in and hence they lowered the entry barrier. At jet one needs 10 flights to be able to tele check-in while the king club allows one to do that in 3 flights. Another expected response which did come was to give a Gold card to anyone who had a Jet Gold/Platinum. This was done through the employers to get a good coverage.
Overall, aggressive launch followed up with aggressive ramp-up. Paints a picture of a new boxer punching the older and larger guy into the corner. So the next post on how Jet has responded.
1. First Class
2. Cash frequent flyer advantage
3. King Club
The KF first class is really something. The experience starts from the time one enters the airport as the baggage is carried for you to the plane. The ride from the terminal to the plane is in a car or in a bus fitted with sofas instead of the usual coach. The seats are comfortable and adjustable. In addition to the being flatter compared to jet seats, the KF first seats have adjustable lumber support and foot support (though some of those haven't worked for me many times!). A TV screen can be brought out but is a bit painful to handle. The service is excellent with more choice in the drinks and food. The presentation of the food is great. As far as food and drinks are concerned, its like being in a 5-star in the sky. The experience continues on landing with the special bus and the luggage being carried to your car.
Kingfisher also realised that Jet's lead was essentially due to the corporate traveller who stuck with Jet because of the accumulated Jetmiles. Its attack on that aspect was fantastic. KF realised that most corporate travellers take the first flight out and are back the same day. So first they matched their flight times within 15 mins of Jet times. Second, they offered a thousand ruppees if one took a flight back the same day! Thus, one got cash of Rs 1,000 in hand instead of cashing the jetmiles later. It was of course controversial as the tickets were purchased by the company and the money collected by the employee. There were also tax issues. In the end, the scheme got dropped and a frequent flyer scheme introduced.
The frequent flyer scheme was also innovative. KF realised that the immediate benefit for most people was the ability to tele check-in and hence they lowered the entry barrier. At jet one needs 10 flights to be able to tele check-in while the king club allows one to do that in 3 flights. Another expected response which did come was to give a Gold card to anyone who had a Jet Gold/Platinum. This was done through the employers to get a good coverage.
Overall, aggressive launch followed up with aggressive ramp-up. Paints a picture of a new boxer punching the older and larger guy into the corner. So the next post on how Jet has responded.
Kingfisher: A blast of fresh air
I've been absent from blogging for some time. Picking up today from we left almost a month back.
Kingfisher came in when there was a lot of talk of low cost airlines. With "all economy" planes and fares lower than that of Jet, KF was clubbed into the Low cost category to begin with. But the clear promise was that of "an experience that even other airlines are going to talk about".
And the experience was good: Planes were new, seats slightly wider, leg room slightly more. And all these counted as everything was benchmarked to pain-points of the leader: Jet. One also had in flight entertainment: 5 video channels and 10 audio ones. What also counted was the bright festive red colour compared to the conservative blue of jet. It did feel like being part of a more cheerful experience as the staff was very cheerful and friendly. Even the in-flight magazine was about fashion, parties and of course bollywood.
What I personally liked the best and made me take KF flights was its flexibility in check-in. Jet would not allow one in 30 mins before the flight even if one had a Gold Card. KF on the other hand took everyone even 15 mins before the flight!
After the first few flights, I remember thinking of Jet as a service provider with German efficiency. This was a lesson in many ways:
1. A great airline all of a sudden had a strong competitor which made it look in a bad light. "German efficiency" is not a great name recall!
2. The industry changed from airline industry to a service industry
3. The brand extension of king fisher was admirable
Kingfisher came in when there was a lot of talk of low cost airlines. With "all economy" planes and fares lower than that of Jet, KF was clubbed into the Low cost category to begin with. But the clear promise was that of "an experience that even other airlines are going to talk about".
And the experience was good: Planes were new, seats slightly wider, leg room slightly more. And all these counted as everything was benchmarked to pain-points of the leader: Jet. One also had in flight entertainment: 5 video channels and 10 audio ones. What also counted was the bright festive red colour compared to the conservative blue of jet. It did feel like being part of a more cheerful experience as the staff was very cheerful and friendly. Even the in-flight magazine was about fashion, parties and of course bollywood.
What I personally liked the best and made me take KF flights was its flexibility in check-in. Jet would not allow one in 30 mins before the flight even if one had a Gold Card. KF on the other hand took everyone even 15 mins before the flight!
After the first few flights, I remember thinking of Jet as a service provider with German efficiency. This was a lesson in many ways:
1. A great airline all of a sudden had a strong competitor which made it look in a bad light. "German efficiency" is not a great name recall!
2. The industry changed from airline industry to a service industry
3. The brand extension of king fisher was admirable
Mobile Monday Delhi 2
I'm at MoMo Delhi 2. With around 175 registrations, it promises to be an exciting one. Of course, it IS another MMS - Mobile Monday Saturday!
Monday, December 18, 2006
State of business air travel: pre Kingfisher
Jet Airways (9W) ruled the roost. Period. Shahara with its blatantly bad service and lack of punctuality was hardly a competition. State run Indian Airlines (IC) was really the second best. Almost all business travellers would travel on Jet Airways as first preference. The few I knew who preferred Indian Airlines prefeered it for its better food. having travelled on IC as my second preference, I would have to agree. IC scored over 9W in both taste and the variety of food. One aspect that many liked was serving of curd in all meals.
So 9W was effectively the de facto standard to which everything would be benchmarked. An airline that many would refer to as the best domestic airlines in the world! And these were people who had trevelled the world over!!
So 9W was effectively the de facto standard to which everything would be benchmarked. An airline that many would refer to as the best domestic airlines in the world! And these were people who had trevelled the world over!!
Airlines Comparison Series
I fly both Jet and Kingfisher quite regularly and also have heard a lot from other frequent travellers. A conversation today at Chennai lounge reminded me that even many frequent travellers (he has a platinum on Jet), do not have a good understanding of the pros and cons of the two airlines. So here is my lame attempt in the genre of serial posts. Here is how it looks right now:
1: State of business air travel: pre Kingfisher
2: Kingfisher: A blast of fresh air
3. Kingfisher: The Rampup
4. Jet: The response
5. Jet vs Kingfisher: Does Jet need to fear Kingfisher?
1: State of business air travel: pre Kingfisher
2: Kingfisher: A blast of fresh air
3. Kingfisher: The Rampup
4. Jet: The response
5. Jet vs Kingfisher: Does Jet need to fear Kingfisher?
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Barcamp Pune
Continuing with my Barcamp pilgrimages, I attended the BarCamp Pune this weekend. I came in weary from extensive travel over the past 2 weeks and was rejuvenated with the infectious energy at the camp. We had over 90 people attending three parallel sessions. There were also many enthu volunteers from Symbiosis managing the show and taking/attending sessions at the same time! As usual, many interesting people and businesses.
The high point was meeting Anjali and Santosh from Bookeazy. Both have returned from US to pursue entrepreneural dreams. Very clearly, they didn't have the best presentation. In fact, I came down on them very heavily with several questions. But in the end, I came away deeply impressed with the tenacity and enthusiasm of both of them. The discussion was one of the most engaging that I've had with any founders. Not sure of the answers but very sure that they'll get them right. The best was to see Anjali sit down immediately to look at the responses to the questionnaire they had circulated. certainly the team to watch out for. I'm eagerly looking forward to their Jan release.
The high point was meeting Anjali and Santosh from Bookeazy. Both have returned from US to pursue entrepreneural dreams. Very clearly, they didn't have the best presentation. In fact, I came down on them very heavily with several questions. But in the end, I came away deeply impressed with the tenacity and enthusiasm of both of them. The discussion was one of the most engaging that I've had with any founders. Not sure of the answers but very sure that they'll get them right. The best was to see Anjali sit down immediately to look at the responses to the questionnaire they had circulated. certainly the team to watch out for. I'm eagerly looking forward to their Jan release.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Barcamp Delhi 2
I'm at the second BarCamp Delhi. As usual, gyan sessions are boring. Deep tech/product demos are interesting. Discussions start. I guess it has simply to do with the fact that insights/new thoughts make one think and thats where the connection is made.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Importance of mental models in Innovation
My own discussion at Barcamp was centered around Innovation in large IT services firms such as TCS. A bulk of the audience had exposure to IT Services but almost no one believed that there was any innovation in the large IT Services firms.
It was a free flowing discussion where I wanted to hear as much from the audience as to leave them with something worthwhile. We spent a lot of time talking about how mental models inhibit or foster innovation.
We asked ourselves questions like what exactly is IT Services? Are the lines as dictated by conventional wisdom really hard lines on the ground or mere simplifying mental assumptions that need to be questioned from time to time? Does innovation start by challenging conventional wisdom?
I firmly believe that one has to continually probe at the received wisdom of the day to really see what new can be done. At the same time, one has to respect the received wisdom because its established for a good reason. Let's take an example: Google is an example of business service enabled by strong IT. Is there something to be learnt for IT Services companies? At the first blush no, because the ad-driven revenue model is far out from current business. Not core competence as some would say. But does the basic concept of providing service to one party using strong IT and collecting money from a third depending upon the quality of service extendable to IT Services? At TCS, the answer has been yes!
Case in point: MCA21 project of government of India where TCS is directly responible for provision of service to customers and collects money from the government. The money collected depends upon the quality of service just as the ad revenue depends upon click through in Google's model. And this is not the first time this was done. A precusrsor to this with a slightly different model was APonline which provides citizen services on behalf of Govt of AP. APOnline is 80% owned by TCS.
Bottomline: Conventional wisdom challenged but in a more realistic way which is closer to the core business. No hard and fast rules but the best way is to try and learn.
It was a free flowing discussion where I wanted to hear as much from the audience as to leave them with something worthwhile. We spent a lot of time talking about how mental models inhibit or foster innovation.
We asked ourselves questions like what exactly is IT Services? Are the lines as dictated by conventional wisdom really hard lines on the ground or mere simplifying mental assumptions that need to be questioned from time to time? Does innovation start by challenging conventional wisdom?
I firmly believe that one has to continually probe at the received wisdom of the day to really see what new can be done. At the same time, one has to respect the received wisdom because its established for a good reason. Let's take an example: Google is an example of business service enabled by strong IT. Is there something to be learnt for IT Services companies? At the first blush no, because the ad-driven revenue model is far out from current business. Not core competence as some would say. But does the basic concept of providing service to one party using strong IT and collecting money from a third depending upon the quality of service extendable to IT Services? At TCS, the answer has been yes!
Case in point: MCA21 project of government of India where TCS is directly responible for provision of service to customers and collects money from the government. The money collected depends upon the quality of service just as the ad revenue depends upon click through in Google's model. And this is not the first time this was done. A precusrsor to this with a slightly different model was APonline which provides citizen services on behalf of Govt of AP. APOnline is 80% owned by TCS.
Bottomline: Conventional wisdom challenged but in a more realistic way which is closer to the core business. No hard and fast rules but the best way is to try and learn.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Who comes to Unconferences?
Sandeep Singhal asked an interesting question at the begining of his talk: How many of you want to be entrepreneurs and how many of you are already one? A large number of hands went up on the first and very few on the second. Clearly unconferences attract aspirants. This is evidenced also by naivette that one sees in the questions asked etc.
The good news is that a lot of the aspiring entrepreneurs at least at Barcamp Bangalore were working at an idea or had a ready concept or were looking to launch. Good deal flow for VCs such as Sandeep.
The good news is that a lot of the aspiring entrepreneurs at least at Barcamp Bangalore were working at an idea or had a ready concept or were looking to launch. Good deal flow for VCs such as Sandeep.
Bangalore Barcamp 2 - Large Turnout
Bangalore Barcamp was over this weekend and we had great fun. Interest levels are best indicated by numbers: 382 registered, just over 200 attended day 1 and almost 100 on day 2. When you end at 6.30 PM on a Sunday with many people still hanging around and some speakers not getting a session, you know it was a great hit.
We all started at 7.30 AM so that we have everything in place by 8.30 when the registration was to begin. The first registrant appeared at 7.40 AM and we were still waiting for keys to unlock the conference goodies. By 8.30 AM we had 25 people in from the registered list and 4 in a the waiting list. All flood gates opened by 9.00 AM. But by 9.30 we were down to a trickle and still away from the 200 mark. Next I checked was at lunch and we had around 200 in.
Still a 50% dropout rate makes me think about the fate of the upcoming barcamps. As someone pointed out, this was bangalore after all!
The team behind the efforts including yours truely:
We all started at 7.30 AM so that we have everything in place by 8.30 when the registration was to begin. The first registrant appeared at 7.40 AM and we were still waiting for keys to unlock the conference goodies. By 8.30 AM we had 25 people in from the registered list and 4 in a the waiting list. All flood gates opened by 9.00 AM. But by 9.30 we were down to a trickle and still away from the 200 mark. Next I checked was at lunch and we had around 200 in.
Still a 50% dropout rate makes me think about the fate of the upcoming barcamps. As someone pointed out, this was bangalore after all!
The team behind the efforts including yours truely:
Monday, November 27, 2006
Mobile Mondays & BarCamps
I've blogged earlier about Mobile Mondays and BarCamps in India. I believe that such unconference mode forums are key to building Indian Innovation ecosystem.
The premise is quite simple. Upto a few months back the biggest obstacle to building an Indian Innovation Ecosystem was lack of serious risk capital in India. Sure VCs have been around for some time but most were busy doing late stage or pre-IPO deals. By some estimates, less than 5% of the PE money that got invested in India was into early stage deals. This is fixed given several funds such as IDG, Helion etc have announced $ 100 M+ funds for early stage investments in India. Helion partner Sanjeev Agrawal was recently in news for 3 deals he's about to close soon! So money is a problem of the past.
Now the problem is the lack of a ecosystem platforms; forums where different people can meet and gain from each other. Ideas seldom make money on their own. Great ideas in fact are good ideas built on top of other good ideas. Similarly, a single person seldom is responsible for a success. More often than not, its a team that wins. All these meeting of ideas and people are possible only if good forums exist. TiE has been doing a good job in this respect for some time. But more is needed to build a momentum and to attract aspiring innovators. IMHO, Barcamps and Mobile Mondays can play that role.
Its nice to be able to back up opinion with action and I've been able to do that for some extent. Today both Mobile Monday Bangalore and Mobile Monday Hyderabad were held with TCS sponsorship. The last MoMo Bangalore and MoMo Mumbai were both sponsored by TCS. Next up is Barcamp Bangalore where close to 300 people have already registered for 200 seats! Again, we are happy to extend support. Next up are Barcamps Delhi and Pune. Both will be supported by TCS.
Hope to meet more interesting people and have rich conversations all through December.
The premise is quite simple. Upto a few months back the biggest obstacle to building an Indian Innovation Ecosystem was lack of serious risk capital in India. Sure VCs have been around for some time but most were busy doing late stage or pre-IPO deals. By some estimates, less than 5% of the PE money that got invested in India was into early stage deals. This is fixed given several funds such as IDG, Helion etc have announced $ 100 M+ funds for early stage investments in India. Helion partner Sanjeev Agrawal was recently in news for 3 deals he's about to close soon! So money is a problem of the past.
Now the problem is the lack of a ecosystem platforms; forums where different people can meet and gain from each other. Ideas seldom make money on their own. Great ideas in fact are good ideas built on top of other good ideas. Similarly, a single person seldom is responsible for a success. More often than not, its a team that wins. All these meeting of ideas and people are possible only if good forums exist. TiE has been doing a good job in this respect for some time. But more is needed to build a momentum and to attract aspiring innovators. IMHO, Barcamps and Mobile Mondays can play that role.
Its nice to be able to back up opinion with action and I've been able to do that for some extent. Today both Mobile Monday Bangalore and Mobile Monday Hyderabad were held with TCS sponsorship. The last MoMo Bangalore and MoMo Mumbai were both sponsored by TCS. Next up is Barcamp Bangalore where close to 300 people have already registered for 200 seats! Again, we are happy to extend support. Next up are Barcamps Delhi and Pune. Both will be supported by TCS.
Hope to meet more interesting people and have rich conversations all through December.
Back
Last Saturday was Gaurav's birthday party where I bumped into many other bloggers including some "A listers". While I haven't bothered to figure what an "A lister" is, there are obvious connotations to the title. The lame introduction of "I too blog but ahem last I blogged was in sept" was well... lame. So I'm back. Let's see how long does this stint last :-)
A post on the party appears here.
A post on the party appears here.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Blogging for social responsibility
Something that did catch my attention in the last session at BlogCamp were two attempts on blogging for social responsibilty.
First was Osama urging people to blog about our villages etc as we travel around. He has a point. There is a lot of inequity in India. On one hand we have farmers committing suicide. And on the other hand we have the super rich in cities. In addition, there are billions of dollars flowing into the country for the poor. The attention of both the super rich and the donations etc is dominated by the mainstream media which covers the rural India only if there are suicides, famines etc and that too at a superficial level. Why can't bloggers attarct a more a continual attentions to the conditions before they become as extreme as suicides?
I travel a lot and fall somewhat in the category Osama talked about. But my travels are limited to the metros. Still, I'm going to talk more about the children that one sees begging on the streets of India. Don't think it'll have any impact but that's a bad excuse for doing nothing.
Second was Scott carney talking about Open source journalism. He has good intentions but the message was not clear. For a niche medium to emerge, ONE blog has to take lead and build readership. then others will converge around. IMHO, asking people to contribute early on invites the sceptics more than the passionate and kills the idea.
Tag: BlogCamp
First was Osama urging people to blog about our villages etc as we travel around. He has a point. There is a lot of inequity in India. On one hand we have farmers committing suicide. And on the other hand we have the super rich in cities. In addition, there are billions of dollars flowing into the country for the poor. The attention of both the super rich and the donations etc is dominated by the mainstream media which covers the rural India only if there are suicides, famines etc and that too at a superficial level. Why can't bloggers attarct a more a continual attentions to the conditions before they become as extreme as suicides?
I travel a lot and fall somewhat in the category Osama talked about. But my travels are limited to the metros. Still, I'm going to talk more about the children that one sees begging on the streets of India. Don't think it'll have any impact but that's a bad excuse for doing nothing.
Second was Scott carney talking about Open source journalism. He has good intentions but the message was not clear. For a niche medium to emerge, ONE blog has to take lead and build readership. then others will converge around. IMHO, asking people to contribute early on invites the sceptics more than the passionate and kills the idea.
Tag: BlogCamp
What's going on!
The post lunch session at Blogcamp is either short on content and heavy on unrelated conversation or I'm just plain sleepy. Most of the stuff just didn't connect. Unrelated, insufficient depth etc. Bad enough for me to feel like taking a flight back ASAP!
For the time being, I'll plead mea culpa and get some coffee.
Tag: BlogCamp
For the time being, I'll plead mea culpa and get some coffee.
Tag: BlogCamp
Blogger Beta
The wordpress demo was followed by a blogger beta demo. Seems like most of the gaps between blogger and wordpress are addressed. So now I am trying both blogger beta and wordpress.
Trying the newbie section on BlogCamp was a good idea.
Tag: BlogCamp
Trying the newbie section on BlogCamp was a good idea.
Tag: BlogCamp
Hindi Blog!
I have seen quite a few Tamil blogs but just learnt of a hindi Blog: Rajesh. He says there are several tools for hindi bloggers. Way to go. Hope he puts up a post on the Blogcamp wiki on how to do it.
The blog itself looks a little unlike the hindi typeface. But just the idea of hindi blogging is mindblowing!
Tag: BlogCamp
The blog itself looks a little unlike the hindi typeface. But just the idea of hindi blogging is mindblowing!
Tag: BlogCamp
ICICI Bank - Moving with the times
Another personal anecdote from BlogCamp:
Two bloggers were contacted by ICICI bank after they cribbed about the bank's service on their blogs. The anecdotes invited laughter. However, I was left wondering about my own employer. Don't think we are that media savvy. Yet.
Kudos to ICICI bank certainly.
Tag: BlogCamp
Two bloggers were contacted by ICICI bank after they cribbed about the bank's service on their blogs. The anecdotes invited laughter. However, I was left wondering about my own employer. Don't think we are that media savvy. Yet.
Kudos to ICICI bank certainly.
Tag: BlogCamp
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