FEB-2013 ISSUE

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From the editors desk

Dear Reader, The Systems Consulting Club is back with a new edition of CrossRoads. Any advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic and we try unraveling the secrets behind the magic in this edition. The issue features interviews with distinguished IIMC Alumni. Mr. Deepak Malani an associate product manager at Flipkart and Mr. Apoorv Kalra a consultant at Capegemini UK share their thoughts. This years edition we try to explore several new areas such as Mobile banking, role of IT in Supply chain and HRIS. We have explored a plethora of roles that IT plays in enabling businesses in todays world. The magazine team had a great experience in putting together this edition of CrossRoads and hope you have as much fun reading it as we had creating. Best Regards, CrossRoads Team,

Contents
Is mobile banking safer and superior than the online banking?

HRIS enabling business sustainable strategy

HR & IT as arts and science

Role of IT in optimizing Supply Chain of emerging global business

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Interview with Deepak Malani an IIM-C alumnus and an associate product Manager at Flipkart

Interview with Apoorv Kalra an IIM-C alumnus and a consultant at Capgemini UK

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Is mobile banking safer and superior than the online banking?

authors
Amit Kumar Aggarwal (FT13104) Bharat Mehndiratta (FT13314) PGPM Great Lakes Institute of Management

It provides the full scale array of details and options, providing the end users rich GUI experience with the full controls of the accounts management. On the other side, in the case of the mobile banking applications, end user can experience only the transactional features of the banking application with the additional security enabled text backs which are used as the second form of the authentication for the end user. As we see that the use of mobile phone banking is increasing day by day and more than 50% mobile users practice mobile banking on their cell phones. This raises a concern - Is mobile banking more secure than the online banking? Lets try to answer this by analysing it from different angles. Each mobile device is having its own identity which takes away the concern of the middle man security and thus the transactions are much secured than we anticipate. Furthermore, the online frauds take time to be detected and they cannot be distinguished in real time. Whereas the mobile banking frauds can be distinguished in real time. The use of the SMS and push messages allows us to discover the frauds as and when they happen in real time. With the use of the mobile phone for banking purposes and the installation of GPS capabilities by the smartphone manufacturers in the mobile phone, we can essentially locate the fraud before it happens. This makes the use of mobile phones for banking much more secure and reduces the chances of geolocation frauds. The same cannot be found in the online transactions in real time. The anticipation of the upstream usage of the mobile banking will definitely lead to the invention of the biometric based security for the mobile phones for the transactions which may not be present in the online transactions. The latest Android mobile operating system, Ice cream sandwich, has made this possible by launching the user

With the invention of smartphones, PC based online mobile banking certainly looks older technology wherein, we use to make the transactions through the PC using the services of the internet service provider. Mobile banking is rather a platform with which we can make the transactions online using the mobile devices inherent features with the help of the same mobile service provider. Though the ap-

plications are custom built for the mobile applications but some part of the application in the PC based web world is buried by the mobile application developers to make the entire application more user friendly.Banking using the PC based web browsers allows us to use the full scale menus of the applications and also provides maximum services of the banking application using the browsers features.

facial recognition system to unlock the mobile phones and the same is anticipated to be used as a banking transaction security feature. More over the finger scan enabled mobile phones will also add to additional security in the mobile banking applications in near future. Having said that, we can also say that online banking has some advantages over the mobile banking as there is more transactional capability in the case of the online banking. We can easily download the applications on the PCs/Laptops without much security concerns. Attack of Zeus Trojan on not only blackberry platform but also on android devices is now becoming a concern. In android platform, it shows as a security application and once installed it starts listening to incoming messages and acts accordingly. There have been many apps, designed for phishing of banking credentials from unsuspecting customers. Moreover, third party, non-issued apps are also risky as a customer has to share credentials with an unknown and untrusted source. Browser security needs to be addressed. It can be addressed by ensuring that banks mobile web site is only accessible through browsers

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that have a minimum 128-bit SSL support. For fraud/risk modelling, bank should see if multiple accounts are accessed via the same mobile device, as it can be something fishy and banks should act accordingly. This problem can be addressed by tying only one account to a phone. Most importantly customer education is must. A customer should never leave a note with passwords on mobile deice cover or inside their address books. A customer should always pay attention to the app store he uses to download the applications. He should check the source, read the reviews and the fine prints of the applications. Customer should make sure that he always protects his phone using a password and auto lock his phone in every case. One should try to avoid the use of the public WIFI network while doing any

transaction and Try to download the updates whenever they are available. One should add security software to phone and should secure Wi-Fi connection and always check padlock icon. Above issues need to kept in mind irrespective of whether it is mobile banking or pc banking. Mobile banking is as secure as online banking, if above points are addressed properly.

HRIS ENABLING BUSINESS SUSTAINABLE STRATEGY

H.R & I.T as Arts & Science
author
Vinod Gandhi IMI Delhi Vinod Gandhi is presently doing MBA in HR from IMI Delhi. He has 3 years of work exp. in TCS and spectrum Study circle. He is passionate about Understanding Human beings and their interaction in organization.

Emerging Trends in Management Towards Sustainable Development

If we analyse how firms (GE, BMW, DRL, and APPLE to name a few) stay competitive in such dynamic environment all around, we would see firms with a competitive advantage offer value to customers- that is superior to the value their competitors provide. In other words, it is- Creating value for customers is the source of above-average returns for these firm. The most important thing for staying ahead in business now is to understand the dynamics of environment. Let us pick only one variable Demographics out of seven dimensions of environmental analysis and we will see how rapidly it has been changed in last few years. Needless to discuss what impact technology e has done to firms. Staying competitive in economy today can be possible with uniqueness of resources & capabilities of firm. And in a way how a firm manages its Human Resources. With my recent summer internship experience at BMW and a handful primary

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research with GE, I feel H.R capabilities alone can work wonders for an organization. I.T has changed the era completely. It is because of Information systems today that the organizations, such as Amex, Infosys, MakeMyTrip and many more, are leveraging on their competencies to compete in such a dynamic economy. Information technology and Information Systems (ITIS) has become a critical aspect of developing and using human resources management programs to better manage the human capital of an organization; and further evolving H.R related information systems (HRIS). A human resources information system (HRIS) is the integration of software, hardware, support functions and system policies and procedures into an automated process designed to support the strategic and operational activities of the human resources department and

managers throughout the organization. HRIS enables the human resource department to make a more active role in organizational planning. Computerization can make forecasting more timely, cost effective, and efficient. Integration and storage in a single database all of the human resources information. HRIS can accelerate the process of comparing costs and benefits of human resources activities. An effective HRIS does facilitate the east storage and retrieval of human resources records that are very vital for operations. Human resources information systems (HRIS) can play an important part in a companys HR function. The role of HR is becoming pivotal in the 21st century. As organizations face stiff market and other external pulls and pushes, the HR becomes vital source for managing future chal-

lenges. A strategic HRIS provides important information about human resources needs and capabilities; this information assists the management team in establishing the organizational mission and setting goals and objectives in motion.Firm use this information technology systems for strategical, tactical, and operational decision making; to avoid litigation; to evaluate programs, policies, or practices (e.g., evaluating the effectiveness of a training program); and to support daily operations. Mohan Thite, Michael J. Kavanagh: Human Resource Management and Human Resource Information Systems HRIS can assist human resources in numerous ways, but particularly in their day-to-day duties by streamlining workflow processes through control processes, system interfaces and database validation. One of the most common HR gripes is being bombarded with mundane e-

mail and administrative work that takes away from the actual practice of HR professionals. The field of HRIS has also seen the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) configuration in HRM with extensive use of manager and employee self-portals. Most critically, these changes ensure that firms can significantly advance in use of people knowledge in managerial decision. They can access people knowledge more rapidly with a higher degree of accuracy. HRIS merges some of HRM functions with the IT field, wherein the planning and programming of data processing systems have evolved into standardized routines and packages of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. ERP integrates the human resource module with finance, production, and sales and administration modules. Technology-driven automa-

Improved Efficiency

Firm Size Financial Resources Culture Computer Literacy

H1 H6 H2 H3 H4 H5 H R I S

-Speed & Accuracy -Cost Reduction Improved Effectiveness -Decision Making Improvement -Desired Management gols

H7

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tion (IT) processes certainly help reduce costs and cycle times as well as improve quality. Information System (IS) can further help decision makers to make and implement strategic decisions. HR data, if collected effectively and contained within computerized, accessible systems, can both compare organizational HR bottom line outcomes by HRM function, between functions and with national or international performance benchmark Proactive HR managers ensure that their HRIS contributes to organizational performance. A recent development in the uses of HRIS in many has been the linking of benchmarking practices to the design, choice and implementation of such systems as a directly strategic initiative. Integration with organizational

strategic objectives is achieved by the subsequent establishment of performance targets and quantitative measures. As a strategic tool, HRIS can be used to contribute to the development and modification of HR plans, on both quantitative and qualitative bases, and to feed into specific HRM functions. Recently I attended NHRD workshop having discussion on how ESSAR group is competing with their e-Compass aligning individuals to business goals strategically and building as a Talent Management company with I.T enabled HR framework. Outcomes are shown in figure attached HRIS and other information systems can be used to support a Talent Management Program. The importance of talent management

business intelligence to produce TM analytics can provide company a competitive edge. Perhaps one of the major obstacles in the use of an HRIS is its implementation. It is important for company to realize that the major challenge to successful implementation is more behavioural than technical. Organizations will surely move towards HRIS but to make it a strategic way, change management lessons must be applied here. Process reengineering is a critical component in HRIS implementation. Inadequate documentation or training can undermine the systems utility and increase resistance to the system by exactly those employees and managers who are supposed to aid in its use. Given these sorts of hurdles a careful needs assessment obviously

should be done prior to adopting an HRIS. To conclude, I strongly feel that there is a strong need of leveraging Human resources with I.T and communication management to sustain the competitive advantage for any firm. Being Information-Technology upgraded and communicating strategically with market (by scanning, monitoring, forecasting and assessing) can make a firm win such competition. If there is one central theme of our look toward the future, it is the importance of HR policies matched with organizational change and technology; this alignment will have the greatest impact on the future success of HRIS and the organizations investing in these systems.

References Fisher, J. (2002). Human Factors and the System Development Process. In: Sociotechnical and Human Cognition Elements of Information Systems, Clarke, S. (Ed.). Idea Group Inc., USA. Haines, V.Y. and A. Petit. (1997). Conditions for successful HRIS. Hum. Resour. Manage. Jaffee, D. (2001). Organization theory: Tension and change. McGraw-Hill, USA. Mercer Human Resource Consulting, (2007). HR transformation in Europe: A Mercer Study. Survey Mumford, E., (2003). Redesigning Human Systems. Idea Group, USA. Shirivastava, S. and J.B. Shaw. (2003). Liberating HR through technology. Hum. Resour. Manage is uttermost to get competitive advantage. Numerous researches speak the same too. A talent management program is a part of the human resource planning (HRP) function of an organization. Recruiting talented individually by using social networks has been increasing too. Very few companies have quality Talent Management computer applications. Information systems can be applied in every aspect of talent management, from conducting job analysis to focussing on the human capital demand and supply for current and future jobs, attracting the right talent in a specific location, hiring based on desired attributes, and retaining high performance employees. Ultimately, the HR department of an organization would use an HRIS to monitor and measure the overall contribution of talented employees with other result on balanced scorecard, and these results could affect the design of other HRM programs. The use of analytics in TM, particularly the use of Targowski, A.S. and S.P. Deshpande. (2001). The utility and selection of an HRIS. Adv. Competitiveness Res.

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Role of IT in optimizing supply chain of emerging Global business

In todays marketplace marked by intense competition, companies are trying hard to build their competitive capabilities in order to differentiate themselves. Developing efficient supply chain is one such step towards building competitive capabilities. An efficient supply chain requires smooth movement of physical goods and information among different members of supply chain. Given the increasing importance of outsourcing, globalization and shift in power structure towards customers, the dependency on accurate information has increased even further. Information Technology plays a very important role in smoothening of information flow. Investment in information technology (IT) for managing s upply chains has been an effective way of obtaining competitive advantage (Spalding, 1998; Kwan, 1999). A typical supply chain looks more or less looks like the one shown in Figure 1. Information flow

author

Trisha Pandey SJMSom

is bidirectional and iterative in nature. In the absence of accuracy, the entire supply chain becomes vulnerable to effects like bull whip effect leading to excess inventory or dead stock on one hand and stock-outs and reduced customer service level on the other.Lets take the case of Supply chain of companies like Dell, Walmart and P&G. Information technology has transformed the entire supply chain of these companies by smoothening the

movement of materials and information. In case of Dell, efficiency has been achieved through real time information sharing with its suppliers. Facilitated by Information Technology, Dells suppliers are no longer compelled to locate near the manufacturing plant. This has helped Dell in expanding its suppliers base competitively and also extending more customization benefits to its customers. In case of P&G and Wal-Mart, both the companies entered into strategic alliance with each other under which Walmart shared the P&G products point of sales (POS) data with the company. POS data provides insights into parameters such as which products are selling, when they are selling, where they are selling, who

are purchasing the products etc. On the basis of this data, P&G replenishes the inventory whenever reorder point is reached. IT enabled processes has reduced paper work, time, cost and efforts required by both these companies. Companies such as Home Depot, Xerox and Sears already use on-demand web-based data hubs to identify and track the position of their goods are in real time. Supply chain errors also have come down drastically. Third party logistic providers (3PLs) also greatly use IT in their operations to share the required data, tracking and packaging processes. The role of IT in optimizing supply chain can be broadly divided into four buckets:

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It involves use of IT for frictionless exchange of information among different members of supply chain like generation of production order quotes, billing, delivery receipts, dispatch verifications etc . EDI , XML or Extranet are typically used in these transactions. Cachon and Fisher (2000) have proposed that the benefits of IT use are more due to the positive effects of IT on transaction processing efficiency potentially leading to shorter lead times and smaller batch sizes than to sharing of inventory and demand information. Warehouse management systems (WMS), transportation management system (TMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP) are some of the typical applications.

Transaction Processing:

and scheduling (APS) are some of the typical applications of IT in this field. Specific technologies like online analytical processing, dashboards and keyboards can be used for this purpose.CRM, SRM and APS have to be designed and enabled differently for different types of products. For instance ,in case of innovative products like digital cameras, designer shirts , jewelry the supply chain needs to be more responsive while for functional products like perishables the supply chain needs to be more efficient.

Interviews
about

Deepak Malani is an alumnus of

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and currently an Associate Product Manager at Flipkart.

What are some of the topics most frequented on Product Management interviews in the Systems domain at present?
Common topics would include design questions where you could be asked to design a guitar for disabled persons or a paper cup for use with a coffee vending machine. You should be clear about the first result of the design process, that is, what is expected from the exercise. There are also mock exercises involving pitching a product to a team and responding to their responses. You will be judged on the impact of the solution you create at the end of the mock exercise.

IT based Supply chain Decision support system (DSS): It involves

use of IT to aid better decision making process through data obtained from transaction processing and communication. Decisions involving production schedules, supply chain network designs are made through DSS. Specific technologies like scheduling algorithms, visual composer are used for effective supply chain DSS.

Communication: It involves use of IT for communicating information like sharing planning related information through forecasts, inventory position, production capacity, review policies etc. Supply chain event management (SCEM), Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) are some of the typical applications. Studies have found that typically the sharing of demand information in supply chains increases the performance of the supply chain by increasing availability and reducing inventory related costs (Evans et al., 1993; Gavirneni et al., 1999; Cachon and Fisher, 2000; Lee et al., 2000) Relationship Management:
This involves use of IT for improving customer service level. Customer service level depicts the probability with which the customer receives the product or service within the promised delivery time. Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) and Advanced Planning

What are the most important attributes that are evaluated in a Systems interview?
Familiarity with coding or user experience design does help. You should demonstrate that you understand the constraints involved in designing and developing products. With work experience, the fit and the relevance with the company is more important than the amount of work experience. Your attitudes are also tested through challenging questions, to find out whether you are a team player. The ability to understand and structure your solution is more important than your creative skills; decomposition of a problem, evaluating possibilities is more important, however creativity is also appreciated.

Conclusion The decision for Information Technology development and implementation rests with top management in organizations. They often handle IT implementation in piecemeal manner resulting in multiple types of sub-systems, platforms and interfaces. This eventually causes integration problems. The need for top management is to first assess their business objectives and then find out the alternative technologies that are required to support those objectives. Once this is done, based on the modeled constraints of their business they should decide on specific technology that would be most suitable. Future systems should be able to modularly link to current and past systems. Only then IT would be most effective in providing the best possible supply chain optimization.

Are there any courses or specific kind of projects that one could highlight in a Systems interview that could significantly impact the interviewers evaluation?
MIS courses, e-commerce, IT enables services and data mining are some courses that can be highlighted for a project manager interview. Demonstrate that you derive meaningful insights from data. The live project opportunities on campus are genuinely live, and it would be great if students devoted more time to them.

How are entrepreneurial skills values in laterals and finals interviews? Does mentioning entrepreneurial plans make the companies disposition towards a candidate more or less favourable in a product manager interview?
Im not sure, but as a product manager you are expected to be a mini CEO, so firms definitely wont have problems with hiring people with entrepreneurial experience.

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How is the typical career path for a product manager different in start-ups different from that in an established systems company?
Startups offer roles that are not well defined but have a steeper learning curve. Established companies will have more well defined roles, so they lose out on the ability of students to work on unstructured problems. The choice of whether to work for a startup or and established company depends on the inclination of the person.

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about

Indian Institute of Mangagement Calcutta and currently a consultant at Capgemini Consulting UK

Apoorv Kalra is an alumnus of

Please talk about your laterals and finals experiences.

Flipkart usually comes to campus for an operations profile in laterals and a product manager profile for finals. The first round of my Flipkart interview was about my live projects and questions in product designing, estimation and cost benefit analysis. The specific problems I was asked to solve were more structured than a case problem. Some questions I was asked were: what features can be added to a product display page, what new modes of payment can be provided to Flipkart users, how can the problems of increased returns due to allowing cash-on-delivery be overcome and how Flipkart can promote buying in the rural market given that cash-on-delivery does not have that kind of reach. In the second round I was asked to design an alarm clock for a blind person and asked why I wanted to join Flipkart and why I wanted to do product management. The third round had a problem where I was asked about the process of designing a disposable cup. I was also asked questions on user experience, whether I was comfortable with software languages and if I could code. The fourth round was an HR round. It is good to ask questions after all the interview rounds. In general, the interview processes for systems companies are well structured, the panel knows what they are looking for and people from the concerned department are the ones who usually interview students.

What is the big difference between placements for product management roles and IT consulting profiles? And how is laterals prep different from that for finals?
Product management roles are more difficult to crack than IT consulting and it is better to have product development experience. In laterals every company looks for a specific kind of work experience. So dont expect shortlists based on IRs, CGPAs and PoRs. They will focus on your work experience. Laterals prep is quite different from summers and finals. You need to have a very good storyline and need to focus separately on each company and be clear about your future prospects in each company.

How should one go about preparing for IT consulting roles?

For consulting prep, use Vault and other popular consulting guides. It will help a lot for IT consulting companies. Please sit with your friends and do mock interviews. If you have work experience, focus on representing it better. For example, people with e-commerce work experience should focus on how they will be useful to the companys e-retail agenda. Understand the products, services, clients and industry from your work experience thoroughly. Be prepared for questions like: how does a IT services company work, how would you classify the IT consulting company X, how is company A different from company Y in IT consulting or strategy consulting. Reach out to PGP3s to be able to answer these questions better.

Please provide your advice about the placement process.

Laterals is a tough experience. Check how the market looks and take your own calls to get the right job. Do not panic if it takes time for you to get placed. There are a lot of good companies you might miss out on and get frustrated if you panic and get placed too early. Speak to PGP3s, talk to them and take their advice. And finally, dont worry about the money.