I have been working in the hot favorite IT industry since some time. And one issue I have seen organizatons grappling with is attrition. Every day, more and more org. are entering India, more and more work is being outsourced to India, with the result that skilled manpower, or even manpower, is in shortage today. The way by which the new players can enter the market is either to recruit or discover hidden talents and put them on projects, OR to poach existing talents in other org. and get running.

This scenario has resulted in an “Employee Driven Market” rather than an “Employer Driven Market“. Org. run after employees to get their work done, rather than employees running after them to get themselves recruited.In such a volatile scenario, for a successful org. it is as important to recruit skilled ppl, as to retain them.This is what I am gonna emphasize in this post.

So, what is attrition, what forces it to happen, and is there a way to stem to rot, if not completely stopping it? Are there any answers.Let’s examine.

An employee leaves a job either for a better prospect, better money, better profile, better work env., OR coz he’s either pissed off with his boss, or the work culture, or the kind or quality of work he is doing. It is said that employees don’t leave their companies, they leave their bosses.I will not discuss this issue here, but will try to focus on the other kinda employees.

Many a times I have seen ppl hv left organizations due to job dissatisfaction which encompasses
- Poor quality of work
- Monotonous work
- Lack of challenges
- No prospect of reskilling
- Strengths not getting utilized i.e. not given work they are good at

I feel stemming attrition is the biggest challenge for HR in today’s IT industry.So, how can they go about their job.Let’s look at a scenario first.
IT industry works on an ad-hoc manner. They don’t hv ppl of certain skillset available at a particular point in time.They just make one of their employees learn the technology and start working.With the fast changing pace of technology, employee along with the company has to be on it toes to learn it.So, what happens is an employee learns a technology, implements it in a project, and then becomes slave to it, in a sense he is the one who has implemented it, who has spent months or s.times yrs. mastering it. So, now when the implementation is done, and there is very less scope of him learning anything more in it, he is left with no options. He can’t move out of the project, as the company can’t find his replacement.He gets bogged down by this, doing monotonous work day-in & day-out, and one fine day decides to move out of the organization to work on sthg different.If you analyze this scenario properly, the employee doesn’t want to move out of the org., but the org. forced him out.

Another scenario can be when an employee is getting a lot of diff. kinda work, but is losing interest in wht he does, or is not getting interest in wht he does. He has no qualms with the org. as such, but somehow is not able to build up his enthusiasm in his work, for which he indirectly blames the org. Slowly this indifference gets converted into resentment and the employee decides to walk out.
Who is at fault here? Could the org. had taken some precautionary steps to stop such ppl from moving out.

Here are some of my suggestions.
I feel in an IT industry, a typical kind of job involves interest for not more than 3 or max 6 months. Employee rotation is very important after this period of time.If a person can’t be shunted out of an assignment, at least his role and responsibilities can be swapped within the particular team working on an assignment.E.g. A software developer does out and out coding, and a tester does out and out Testing.These are specialist roles and a swap may not seem advisable at the start. But with the lapse of the timeframe I mentioned, resources can be swapped within the team. Of course, this is a high risk scenario, but is a sure shot hit with the employees if the manager can pull it off.

Another suggestion is to create backup resources. This idea can be pretty useful for a big org. which keeps no. of ppl on bench at a time, but can still work for a smaller org., if implemented tactfully.Generally, a team working on projects comprises of the no. of members being billed to the client. Generally, to overcome lack of skillsets or to make use of the existing employees, a company involves more no. of ppl to get the work delivered at any cost; means 2-3 ppl may be working on a module for which the company doesn’t hv a qualified resource, though the billing is only being done for a single resource. This is a pretty common scenario in industry.After all, such a large population needs to be fed.How can this idea made to work to stem attrition? Let me explain.

A company can profile all the members of a team, and then can push new or the existing resources into newer roles or greater responsibilities.By the time the fatigue may start to creep in the team, its tht time when to push for this process change(ideally as I said this period can be 3-6 months).
Let’s talk it out with an example:
Imagine a project implementation of 6 months.After that, the project goes into a support phase, or doesn’t involve much critical changes as such.What happens normally in such cases is, that most of the team moves out after implementation, and some support guys are left to clean the shit. They grow so bored out of their work in 3 months, that they wanna either move out of the project, or if the company doesn’t let them do it, move out of the company.What can be done is that those ppl sitting on bench or being released can be pushed to take over their role before the fatigue factor sets in. This time duration is project specific and has to be decided upon by the manager on a case-to-case basis.
What it does is, it helps the employee on a project to keep tht enthu running, not get bogged down with the monotonous work; and secondly for the back-up resource, it puts up a great opportunity to learn sthg new.Ideally, i wud wish this new resource stepping into the shoes to be a notch lower in his profile. This wud not only make the new work challenging to the new resource, but wud also help the org. as it wud result in building resources.This cycle should continue as above for the new resource, if the existing project runs for yrs on end.

Another aspect I wanna touch is to sort out the scenario 2 I listed above, where ppl lose interest in work, and fail to understand the reason of it, and finally they blame the org. and quit.
I wud not say tht wht I am gonna suggest is applicable to all cases, but will definitely work out in quite a few cases if worked upon diligently.Ppl lose interest in work due to plenty of reasons, I am not gonna delve upon it. But there is one category of ppl who lose interest in work coz they are not being given the work which they like or they can do best.
An old adage goes “Find the work which you like. And you don’t have to work a day in your life.”
So, how can the org. tap on such aspects or rather problems with their resources. Every industry deals with a document named “Appraisal Document“. It lists all the work done in a given period by a person, also listing “Strengths” and “Weaknesses” observed by both tht appraisee as well as the appraiser. This is the section which will help out the HR deptt, if they focus their efforts.
Peter Drucker says effective ppl “Make the strengths Productive“.
Many a times, ppl either dont understand wht is best for them, or they dont hv the bandwidth to figure it out. They mostly put the blame on their work, or org. as such.
What HR deptt. needs to do regularly as an exercise is to analyze these strengths very properly and try to map the person’s strength to a role in a project or an org.In short, make him work on his strength. This will not only keep him happy, as he is being made to do the work which he does best or loves to do, but will also help the org. as the productivity for tht person will go up dramtically.
This wud require lot of efforts on the part of HR deptt., they can either hire more ppl or involve Managers to contribute to this process. Ideally, managers are closest to their teams, and they can gauge a person much better than HR. But as they are pretty busy chaps, HR needs to do the bulk of work.

Though I have made a few positive suggestions, but they may come with their own pitfalls, and can completely bounce if not carried out effectively.And also, this is not an exhaustive list of suggestions which will help the org. stem the outflow of ppl.
But I feel, these are just some of the steps which are missing in today’s industry, and if implemented with rigour and sincerity, can help a lot in retaining ppl.

N at last, as they say “No idea can be stopped whose time has come”
Similarly, no employee can be retained who has made up his mind to quit.

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Indian job scene never had it so good. Jobs are raining, along with the moolah.It is surely making the society a rich and wealthy one, but it is bringing in a silent change which is not much palpable now, but is surely hitting India where it may hurt the most in the coming decades.
Job scene was not like this earlier, even 3-4 yrs back, when i passed out. We had to really struggle to get a job, and all through the years at college, we had no surety of a job once we pass out, though me n my group were among the ones who fared best at the college.Me and my friend’s are aware of the hardships gone into getting the job, and really value the effort spent and respected the job we got. Today, we may be earning good money, but we still hv respect for money and understand its value.

But when I look at college students or fresh passouts now, I c complacency and arrogance setting in them.They are so sure of getting the job, that they guile away the college yrs. doing evrythg else than study.Their fundamentals are made of sand, and they are least bothered abt it, coz today’s env. doesn’t require them to be good at them. They kick any job that doesn’t put them in glass cubicles, or one which makes them do some shitty work in the fields.Evryone wants a desk job, or in other words, wants to join the IT industry. They feel tht’s the easiest way to earn money these dayz.Of course, where will you get paid for checking mails, and making GF, and partying all night, writing blogs, chatting, boozing and wht not.
I come from a conservative school of thought which had a belief that without sincerity and hard work, things can’t be achieved.But today’s scene belies such idea.But only just. This is wht i am gonna emphasize.

When I joined my first job, I was living alongside a bunch of college ppl.I used to scold them always for study, as I never saw them serious with studies. Though they scored well in their college usually, but they had weak fundamentals.At times, I used to even tell them that this way getting a job will be difficult for them, and they used to laugh it off.But I was really surprised when all of them got into good companies without much ado. They had this satisfaction on their faces,of proving me wrong on my predictions.And these guys are not alone, there is a whole bunch of them, who feel industry and companies are their mistress, and will pay them whtever they demand, even if they dont do an iota of a work.

When I look at the job scene, and the way projects are getting executed these dayz, I am able to understand this phenomenon.India is unarguably the hottest IT destination today. Most countries, including US, outsource their work to India, coz of cheap and skilled availability of labour.To a IT company, billing of a resource is all that matters.The kind of work they do, or the kind of growth it provides to an employee, the company is least bothered. One of the biggest ambiguity in this whole IT industry is to calculate the effort reqd. to complete a work. One can calculate how much time one man can take to make a table,lets say; but how will you calculate the efforts involved to incorporate a functionality in the software.Quantification of skillset is an improbable task in the IT industry.Though there are no. of tools and formulas which one can employ to calculate this figure, but even then that figure is subjective. Many a times, Indian companies make use of this flaw and demand more money from customers by billing more ppl.So, wht happens is tht the work tht can be completed by 10 ppl, has 30 ppl employed on it.N if u ask me frankly, it wud actually be executed by 2-3 ppl only out of a team of 10.So, that leaves 20-25 ppl with no work to do.Company is happy to feed them as they are getting billed, and the ppl are happy as every month-end they’ll be getting their free pay-cheque.This scene gets repeated ad nauseaum in most companies, more so in Biggies.

This phenomenon leads to a no. of side-effects which are spoiling the very base of the Indian education structure.All these ppl who are getting easy money tend to feel tht this is the way a Job works, it requires no effort, and the pay also keeps on piling up with every appraisal cycle.They spread this view amongst the peers, the student fraternity and the likes. This view gives birth to the present day easy going attitude of students towards the studies and job in general.The materialism, consumerism, loss of ethics and morals from the society are just the children of this kinda attitude.After all, wht wud a stale mind do,splurge on pleasure of course.

Now tht I have explained this phenomenon, let me come to the point I was really trying to convey.I am not a pessimist, but a person who feels one shud hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.Taking that logic forward, imagine if all this bubble goes bust.Countries call off their projects, outsourcing almost comes to a naught, may be due to any dramatic reason, lets say a depression happens round the world(which is imminent in coming yrs.). Countries may either completely turn down projects or come to a point where they ask the Indian companies to downsize.What would happen then?
IT companies have to lay down most of their taskforce, or bear the cost,hoping for this catastrophe to get over.My experience says in such situations only a few category of ppl remain safe–
One who have worked well over the yrs., and have strong fundamentals.
Two, ppl who hv good contacts, but in cases where the asses of even big bosses are on fire, such ppl also perish.

Let’s say the first and the second category of ppl do survive this crash.Even after that, more than 80% of ppl crash out of job.What will they do, how will the govt take care of them, or employ them.It will lead to a big crisis all along. India will not only lose a lot of money, but will see its GDP eroded overnight.Does the govt. has any contingency plan on that.I dont want to discuss this topic now, but what I wanna discuss is does the easy going, money proliferating IT junta has any plan to survive it, OR
are they even confident enof of pulling things off in such horrific conditions.
The answer, if you ask me, is sadly NO.

There may be two ways to survive the crash:
1. Try to get absorbed in any other industry in India, so that neither the person nor the country loses out on being productive and contributing to the GDP.But that wud raise a question, how will a computer engineer get absorbed in a manufacturing industry. That brings me to the point that it is the aptitude and the analytical abilities of a person that makes him perform in a given condition.
IT industry is the most widely open industry, when it comes to technology. Most of the technologies being used in practice are never taught in colleges, but still ppl adapt to them and use them effectively. Adapting to a technology requires an aptitude to learn things and deliver.What builds this aptitude is the hard work done at college and university levels, or even at job levels, when one is made to work in unknown/unchartered territories. When a student would shun his studies in college, feeling that he is assured of a job; and when an employee finds solace in sitting on bench and collecting the pay-cheque; without the concern to reskill; tell me how is this aptitude gonna build up. Of course, it will not be a one-day or the one-week affair which can be made to execute in bad times.
How will the bunch of ppl who have never worked hard to earn money, and those who have never thought abt reskilling themselves contribute to the country when good times are over. What wud these bunch of ppl do, other than being a burden on the govt.?

2. The other way to survive the crash is to become an enterpreneur.
“What happenned if I lost my job, as the market goes bust, and it cannot absorb me. I’ll work over to setup sthg else on my own, and make it as an enterprise.”
Can we think like this today? At least the ppl in IT industry, and I feel today’s youth in general doesn’t have the bandwidth to even imagine this thing.
B-Schools are a rage in India today.Why?Not because it makes you a good manager, teaches you managerial concepts but becoz u can be assured of a big fat cheque at the end of the course.
Today ppl think the following way:
“Who bothers abt taking pain to setup sthg on his own?
Why take such risk,man, when a company is willing to pay you loadfull of greenbacks.
Of course, everyone can’t be a fool like SaratBabu, who kicked plum jobs to setup an Idli-Vada joint.Goodness me, to sell Idli-Vada, after IIM-A.Was this guy nuts?”
If you talk to most wannabbes on the street, this is the reaction you’ll get when u ask them “Will you venture out on your own after getting a degree?”
First of all, our education system doesn’t teaches or rather encourages us to become enterpreneurs.And
secondly, the students don’t have the will to toil on their own when they are assured of a fixed and easy money after passing out. What this has done is make students shun enterpreneurism and shy away from risks.That whole attitude is slowly evaporating from the society.
So, just imagine if and when the crash happens, how many ppl will have the will, the tenacity, the confidence, and the acumen to pull sthg off on their own if the situation so demands.The answer,I feel, is Very Few.So, that will again leave the 90% ppl with no contribution to country.Again the same problem will raise its head, how to handle such mess.

So, my concern here is the changing mores of the society, fuelled mostly by the unexplainable boom in the IT industry, and the easy access to money that is making the today’s youth hollow from inside.One who can’t handle pressure, one who is not ready to take risks, one who runs away from hard work, one who is moving away from studies, one who is slowly being moulded into machines who can perform but lose the power to think on its own, to have the mental tenacity to achieve the unthinkable.

All this reminds me of the movie “The Matrix“. Alike that movie, aren’t the youths today becoming sthg of a energy cells being used just to make the machines rule over them.They live in an illusory world which has blackened out the actual scenario that is hitting them in the background.They will never know when the plugs will be taken off them, and right now they have no plan, neither the mental strength to fight out that scenario.
I consider myself a citizen of Zion(it may be an illusion also), and I think there are more members like me who populate the city. I sincerely hope to find “The ONE” to liberate the souls of today’s youth and bring them back to my city.It will be then when India will really shine.

Amen.

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Its Teacher’s Day today, and I am getting nostalgic.
Though after coming to the corporate world, these days lose its meaning. But at school time, they had a special place for me.I studied in a no. of schools, and had the experience of meeting varied kinda teachers.
Teachers were Gods when I was a kid.Their word carried more weightage than even parents at that time.I was a favorite student in the initial yrs., more so as I was the regular topper(pardon my ugly boasting, “yeh situation ke liye zaroori tha“).I was made the leader in many activities done at my class level.The best I remmber was a play in which I was made to play a Husband, and made to say a lot of silly things as per the script written by a teacher. Then there was one Hefty M’am who had this uncanny obsession to exercising. After giving us some silly assignment in the lecture, she used to finish off the leftover exercises of the day in the class itself by moving her hands and feet in horrendous motions, more so making ppl like me scared, imagining she is getting ready to hit someone hard.That fear motivated me at least to concentrate very heavily on the assignment given, and I think many classmates also had the similar fears.

Lady teachers are always famous with boys, and I think the vice versa for the gals too.So, a new school, new bunch of teachers, but my fav. was a young and bubbly Vidhi M’am. She was pretty young and that’s the reason I heard abt her a lot when I used to move among senior boys.There was this Music M’am also who was pretty soft spoken but used to get her say through her tears.I had seen her cry on more than one occassion, but in the end that did what she was asking from the senior students, who were turning deaf ears to her earlier.

This was the stage when I was entering this world of adoloscence, and so things were becoming more clearer day by day. I particularly hated this Physics Sir,who was a bachelor at that time.He was always after the gals, and always used to be lenient to them, whether it comes to anything.His moves were also grossly abhorred by lot of us guys.”Saale mere maal par haath“, was the common refrain amongst us.

Then there was this Biology M’am who was a little biased towards guys, though not in the way the former Sir was. I think she cared for us like her child(though the girls of my class wud beg to differ). I still remmber an incident where me and one guy were least interested in the class, and were exchanging jokes, when the M’am caught us. I was really scared, but was surprised to see her smile and say, “What joke are you sharing, Anshul.Let us know also”. I just said sorry and was let off. The unpredictable happenned when in the same lecture, one girl was caught sniggling(thought she had taken this teacher pretty lightly). Lo and behold, the same teacher who had laughed on my act got really angry and made this gal stand outside the class, with her hand raised. We boys were really delighted at this(think my misogynist seeds were sown at this level), but this took us to the situation of drawing battle lines in the class.None of the gals talked to me for 2 weeks, and it was really hard.How come its my fault if a gal gets punished for the same offence and not me.

Then there was this Hindi Sir who used to make good use of his hand on our soft faces, and address us with some decently chosen but pure hindi-clad expletives. It was really difficult to hold one’s laugh when he’s having a field day.But he was a real good person at heart, and more so a good teacher too.

I particularly hated teachers who were not good to me, though they mayb hvg right reasons for tht.There was this History M’am who looked really tough and always carried a strict demeanour.Once she caught me asking some questions from a senior in an exam.She escalated the whole issue, and I was really angry on her doing this.Incidentally, she was my class teacher also.Though my parents rarely used to go to Parent-Teacher meets(u know their kid being always on top), but God knows what happnd that time when my father decided to go that very time.I was cursing my luck, and was pretty sure that bugger M’am wud definitely raise the cheating issue with my Dad.I think at that age, I wud not have prayed so much to God what I did in those few hrs. when my father was off to school.I was getting ready for a got hands-down on his coming back home.But when my father came back all happy, “meri nazar main us teacher ki izzat bahut bad gayi“.She acted as an insiration to dudes like me to cheat more(though factually I never cheated after that).

Another change of school, a big city, and loads of teachers, the last few yrs. at school though.They are generally the most interesting ones. There was this Principal, whom we called “Mamu” who I feel is the member of the “Holy Grail” of Hitler.He is the most ruthless teacher I have ever come across in life.N wht to say, I was most scared of him all through my last yrs at school(though I was wht u call a “accha bacccha“).Mamu was the dreaded creature on the campus. I think evrybody, including teachers, were scared like hell with him.And most of the ppl also held one or the other grudge against him.But he was a moody fellow, and when in good mood, he can pardon u for nething.Though he had this high ego, and this cruel personality, but he was a true teacher in every sense.He could teach you anything under the sun. There were many a times when he had taught us diff. subjects in another teacher’s absence.He taught us English, and I feel he really turned my interest in the subject through his style of teaching.There are no. of hilarious incidents that went with him though. He was the one who wud try to go deep into his subject. So, he used to teach us the Shakespearen plays, and somehow got this cassette of the play enacted somewhere in Europe. One fine day, he comes up with a television, a VCR in the class, to show us the play. We were really delighted, and it so happenned that there was one hot kissing scene happening in one act.We knew he was in good mood, so the naughty guys of my class requested him to replay the act as they are now getting interest in the play. He was happy like anything, “Oh, u wanna see it again”. N then we were made to see that hot scene again.Imagine a princi showing the students what they yearn for in those days.

Then there was this Physics Sir, who I think was a recent college passout.But he was unarguably the most stylish teacher on campus.He had either a huge wardrobe, or had some connection with the local Dhobi.He cud always be found wearing new clothes evryday, and had this unique way of teaching, animated and using some unheard and unknown words like “In-toto”.I was a good mimic, and so entertained the class with his acts.

There was one Chachu or Vice princi, who had a reallll soft corner for gals, and esp for some gals. Gals also understand these things and enjoyed the attention bestowed on them. I cud still remmber the scene when one of his heartthrobs was busy talking to her BF in the parking lot, the look on his face said it all, and that was the reason he always had some grudge or another with her BF.

Neway, this History M’am or Shruti M’am perhaps was a pretty interesting and close to us. She was pretty and had this special relationship with boys. We really respected her. She had bought a Kinetic Honda, and it was always one of us who had to take it off the parking lot, and clear the way when she drives out of school. One interesting incident happnd with her when she was teaching abt the Judicial courts in India. She was telling abt the categories, and one category was “Petty Court”. It sounded sthg else for us boys, and many of us started laughing. She did stop the lecture and scolded us saying “I know guys, where your imagination is taking you. So, hold on to it”.

Then there was this Hindi Sir, who had his linkages to the bygone era. He was a Hindi teacher on paper, but always used to speak English.He was a simple fella, old one, and at times it was difficult for him to handle Senior guys. Most of the boys in my class had their lunch in his lectures.He was scared like hell with our Princi(”Mamu“).One fine day he asked the class to do our own work as he was not in the mood to teach. We were having a good time sitting at the back and gossipping, when suddenly we heard this Hindi Sir blurting out passages from the study book. Many of us thought that he has got some fit and is made to remmber the torture he sufferred pre-Independence, but the real reason was made clear when we saw the Mamu looking creature walk past our class.

There was this Maths teacher who had this highly accented English,(perfect for today’s call center).He like Chachu loved Senior gals. Some gals resisted this attitude also. One of his dialogues was pretty famous in the school. One nice looking gal once gave him a Rose, and he came back with a perfect one liner for her. “Roses should not give Roses”. This line was put into the Hall of Fame of our school records, and might be used by amateur male teachers even now.Once the battlelines were drawn btw the boys and gals in the class, and the matter reached our “Tharki Chachu“.As the BF of his fav. gal student was involved, Chachu saw an opportunity in this, and took out his full frustation on most of us.All the boys in our class were tagged as “Eve Teasers”.This infuriated a lot of us, and some hot blooded once were on the verge of hitting back at gals, not understanding the hidden game of Chachu.Me and one guy decided to use sarcasm to hit back, and so at any pretext within the class, we use to refer any incident as “Eve Teasing”.Incidentally, we were heard by this Maths teacher, and pointed out. I was really surprised at the efficiency of his doggy ears. Though i admire him for putting an end to this situation by bringing sanity in the class. He had this ability to settle things.
The teacher’s day celebrations were mostly restricted to the school, and they lost its meaning once I entered college. The teachers at college had another stories attached to them, but I dont think i ever held my college teachers in the same esteem as I did for my school ones.

But all in all, I really cherished and respected most of my teachers.They have played a very crucial role in whatever I am today, and I think that hold true for most of us. So, on this b’ful day, I bow my head to all of them.

To all my teachers,
Happy Teacher’s Day

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There is some kinda revolution happening all around India.And that is the MuZik (as some latest brand says it) Revolution.
Everywhere I see, ppl are hanging on to some kinda stuff that makes their ears vibrant throughout the day.What has brought this sudden revolution of sorts is what i’m gonna delve upon.

India has been a country of arts and culture, but all that is not so pervasive in the modern day society where ppl are running to make ends meet.Time is simply a luxury these days, or so has been man-made thus.

Sometimes back if you wud hv asked an office goer to stop by and listen to some good song, he wud either ignore you or wud give u those “wht-the-hell” looks.Students were a party to music but not to an extent as it is these days.So, what has happenned in these 5 yrs. that brought about this change.

I think it has got more to do with the gadgets introduced in the Indian market, and also to the more spending power ppl have got in the present time.Gadgets brought in the status issue into the society, and more spending power meant ppl have more heart as well as will to spend on luxuries and entertainment.No doubt, the changes happening in technology worldwide helped the cause.

I-Pod changed the way music is viewed around the world.More and more ppl bought it to experience themselves.I too hv one of the latest one. The category of ppl buying it varied from serious music lovers who needed such handy devices, to timepass ppl willing to spend money on such items, to the show-off society which took it as a means to look happening and updated.Any revolution spawns its bretherns, and so it happened. Companies, esp cellphone companies saw an opportunity in this idea, and went aggressive on it.

There were two category of gadgets that made an entry. First were the lookalikes but cheap Mp3 players which were gulped in droves by the music loving or not so music loving ppl.
But what made the real impact was the act by Cellphone companies, which pushed such products as an added feature.Cellphone is a necessity these dayz, n ppl also want to grab on the latest model in most cases. Who would not want a better functional phone, offering more features than the old drab ones which madeyou just talk.I could hardly see any decent phone these dayz which doesn’t offer the music players.
What this has done is made ppl listen to more music.Whether it is travelling, or in office, or relaxing, cellphones and in turn music remains as omnipresent as ever.This indirect marketing of music industry by the telecom one is a case study in making.This shows that industries can come together to tap an unknown market which is beneficial for all of them.
More music will mean, more selling of cassettes, CD’s, MP3’s; more downloads and more sharing.Though in Indian context, the piracy is so rampant that it washes out all efforts in generating revenues.Even then, I am confident that with the improvement in technology, more security encrytions in the files, more demand for quality of songs, and more awareness and maturity of ppl all around, this phenomenon is surely a money spinner. Already some cell companies have introduced variations like caller tunes, ringtones etc., which are tapping into the unknown territories and also making ppl pay for these services.

This phenomenon is something which is already catching up, and is the one to watch out for, as it looks to me an industry in the making.I hope I would quote this post later on to show that I had my predictions right.

As customers would say in the words of Shakespeare ala Twelfth Night.
“If music be the food of love, play on”
The music and the cell industry would laugh their way to the banks.

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