MITPS PGP19: Meeting

2
Agenda:
1. Services for Installed Base and SMAC
2. Discussion on the new face of Product: Xiaomi and Micromax
3. Interoperability Revisited: SOA and AETNA

So, solutioning implies Products>Services ?

Many OEMs are trying to manage the transition from Products to
Services:
Some are trying to get their Go-To-Market Messaging right.

Solutions are Products combined with Services for a defined outcome

One such service could be that of a system integrator
All product organizations seek to transition to:
services on installed base due to better margins.
the product organization thus seeks to increase the Installed Base.

Interestingly, a recommendation to this IB-services profit centre is:

An Information System that manages services
http://www.iei.liu.se/externt/mba-proma/course-information/txpr16-industrial-m
arketing-and-pruduct-developmen/filearchive/Handouts/1.134770/A-ROliva-Kallenb
erg-Managing_the_transition_from_products_to_services.pdf

Buzzword of (Yester)Day
SMAC
Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud
Let us discuss the following questions:
Which of these drivers is absolutely the *newest* ?
Satya Nadella 1st mantra is Mobile First, Cloud First. What
does it mean ?
Nadella also says Platforms and Productivity. What links
SMAC to Platform ?
How is the Social functionality leading to better enterprise
software ?
Remember, even Services firms like Infosys are selling a Social angle

Xiaomi and its services

Xiaomi is called the Apple of China and CEO Lei Jun the
Steve Jobs.
Runs an online marketplace called Mi.com (#3 in China)
Their smartphones are loss leaders and theyll profit
via Services
$45B valuation in a country with at least half-dozen
other players
Xiaomi known for its handsets - is a bit of an enigma
regards its OS:
Its version of Android (bundled with services) is available for
handset makers

Xiaomi (Contd.)
Xiaomi fanboys abound (like Apple, but unlike it theyre ages 20-34)
Given oriental notions of life/property, Xiaomi banks on the promise:
That fanboys will buy their first homes and stock them with Xiaomi products

A home full of an Internet Co.s products could be Internet of Things

Yet, most Cos. already selling such products do so against an SDK. Why ?
Xiaomi promises to be the first selling products joined at the hip - integrated.

Xiaomi will dodge IP concerns (its MiUI looks very much like iOS)
It will choose China, India, Indonesia, Brazil and leave out colonizing USA

Xiaomi is like what Gillette did: sell the razor-blade handle for cheap

Xiaomi (Contd.)
Innovative Marketing strategy:
Me Fan base, Technology Adopters, whove immense word-of-mouth
power
Selling phones via Chinas equivalent of Twitter (Sina Weibo)
Online Flash Sales as seen on Flipkart in India
Aims to be South Asias own Apple, with newest devices for the region

Other points:
Compatibility with Googles OS updates is promised. No Fork is seen
Xiaomi reports $5M/month (in 2013) revenue via MiUI-hosted services
Tech-Thoughts Sameer Singh (in 2013):
High hardware profit margins are not a sustainable trend
Instead, those who can leverage platforms to deliver and monetize OTT Services
will win

Micromax steps into Products Vs

Services war
Rahul Sharma, co-founder:
Micromax couldnt afford being a commoditized and undifferentiated Android
partner like Samsung
Take your stock phone today: chipsets are from Qualcomm, all the data goes
straight to Google. You cant even control the fact that an incoming call
gobbles up the SMS you were typing...

CyanogedMod is an aftermarket firmware, like Xiaomis MiUI

Cyanogen CEO: YU plus Cyanogen will be the Xiaomi of India
What does Cyanogen offer that Stock Android doesnt offer ?
Cyanogen PrivacyGuard vs Googles (inadvertent) App Opps
If I want to dial a plumber, my contact book should tell me if my friend knows
one already

Questions to Ponder..
Is there an analog of the Net Neutrality problem here ?
With Fanboys being important, these are clearly consumer
products
Are there any enterprise applications of newer Micromax/Xiaomi products ?

What are the security concerns behind such platform phones ?

Do you see Interoperability as a problem here ?
Sources:
Xiaomi: Xiaomis Ambition by Ben Thompson on stratechery.com (Jan
2015)
Micromax v Xiaomi: Rohin Dharmakumar on FoundingFuel.com (Mar 2015)

Classroom-based MCQ-test
dispenser
So is it a Product Or a Service Or a Solution ?
Can you describe/discuss the technical features such a
device needs ?
What Solutions can you conceive of with this as a base
?
Can you think of any Services that can be provided
with this device ?
Can you apply the SMAC yardstick and identify related
features ?
Recall SDK What other devices could be coupled with
this device ?

Break

Interoperability Revisited
Services-Oriented Architecture:
SOA exposes business functions as services that other applications
and people can use in a simple, standardized way
Recall Business Computing Excel Macros and UDFs:
SOA attempts to do what Enterprise Application Integration would have done
in an early system
Less integration difficulties, more focus on improving service

Services are such that a businessperson can understand

getNumberInStock( Part_ID ) should get info whatever be the Inventory Sys.
getRevenue(), getExpenses() ------------------------------------------- Financial Sys.

SOA handles the IT Infrastructure is in constant flux situation better

SOA (Contd.)
SOA-like behaviour was previously the domain of Cos. With
A tight control on implementation
Large pool of technical talent both business analyst and developer

Separation of Concerns:
service interfaces from programming mechanics

An important role is played by Middleware:

Exchanging information from service interfaces is guided by formats
Earlier, Services were exposed via proprietary messaging middleware
Examples are TIBCO, IBM WebSphere etc. mostly for better QoS

The typical trade-off happens to be:

Standardized SOA vs Proprietary SOA

SOA (Contd.)..
The mantra in Standardized SOA is:
Loosely coupled services
(Service Source) Business focus on Quality, Reliability and
Security

An important tool in modern-day SOA is the Web

Service:
The web-service is a standardized, Internet-exchangeable
format
The web-service involves HTTP (Nets Lingo) and XML (HTMLs
successor)
Many new application software have a Web Service bundled in
Others have API (or a SDK) using which you can write a Web

SOA for Composite Applications

The company of the future is likely to be a:
Knowledge Organization
Already, organization-wide Portals play a very important KM role.

A composite application is a temporary, non-standard, application

That plays a tactical or experimental role
But is easy enough for a regular worker/manager to build, thanks to graphic
SOA
Also gives a window into what pattern a workers tactical jobs fall into

SOA represents the Business at the Speed of Thought idea of Gates

SOA avoids the harmful effects of:
Information Silos
Lack of an Architecture, a. k. a. Our IT is always in a state of flux

What could go wrong with SOA ?

Too many moving parts inside one composite business service
Technologists spend most of their time in Build it and theyll
come
Not always fast or cheap:
Initial SOA hair-splitting on which services to expose, at what granularity
The first Application Integration is always hard, SOA or otherwise

Application Support:
Does your ERP insist on its own client/front-end being used to access ?

Human element to SOA:

Top-notch talent needed, as managers, analysts or developers
Eventually suppliers, customers, partners also privy to your SOA so be
careful

Cut to the Past: Enterprise

Architecture
rationalize and create a plan for the evolution of a
portfolio of installed technologies, strongly connected to
your business direction
EA is also (safely) called Enterprise Technical
Architecture
EA is a way to contain costs, ensure business alignment
Yet retain flexibility to be able to offer newer wares

Rigid at the bottom of the hierarchy, Flexible in the

Upper Tiers
Strict on IP, Some choice in Database/OS, Complete freedom
in applications

Enterprise Architecture (Contd.)

SOA is an important force-multiplier for EA exercise
It gives flexibility at pyramids apex, and even choice at bottom
Applications now try to co-exist via their interfaces

Exceptions may be allowed in opportunistic Enterprise

Architecture:
E.g. Internet Sales in a brick-and-mortar companys IS
Exceptions are made for the flexi-zone
E.g. lower QA requirements, lesser standardization in that zone

A Business strategic goals should inform all EA activities:

Including acquisition of new technology that the EA doesnt
already have

Enterprise Application Architecture

7-18

The EA experience at Aetna (CIO,

June 2012)
EA was a top-down approach not sideways-in or
bottom-up
Aetna chose SOA as a tool to implement its own (new)
EA
But 1st Step: 3-year plan highlighting returns, speed-tomarket.
Example services, used by most members, providers or
plan sponsors:
Plan eligibility
Cost of (physical) services

Staffing 150-person group was hard. Retail Ind hands

Buzzword of the Day

RESTful Web Services
REST stands for Representational State Transfer
Representation of a resource: an Object, an XML entity, JSON capsule
HTTP 101: VERB (eg GET, PUT, POST, DELETE), URI, R-Header, R-Body
R-Header contains client properties (e.g what representations are acceptable)

The above are in a HTTP-Request (made from a clients side)

There is a separate HTTP Response

A resource is located unambiguously using the URI, action is only verb

RESTful services are State-less: order in which they run is immaterial