India as an Offshoring Destination A Historical Perspective

As debates rage on across the globe on the economics of Offshoring work to India in the IT & ITES space (BPO), it is time to view outsourcing from the right perspectives. The Cost perspective is often harped upon by both Indian companies and their offshoring clients. However the root of Indian competitiveness in this space is not often discussed. This article only offers that historical perspective on why India is suited to be BPO Hub of the world.

"Off shoring" is the system of packaging a set of your organization’s tasks and hiring another company situated in another country to perform these tasks for you as a Billable Service. The service providing company provides you a dedicated workforce to perform these tasks for mutually agreed cost and quality terms.

Why India?

The crux of "Off shoring" is "COST" and better operating margins for the companies’ off shoring to India, China or any other country. But "COST" and "PREDICTABLE & CONSISTENT QUALITY" would be more like it.

India has an edge because you have decent quality English speaking people who are willing to do routine work (“Grunt Work”) at a highly competitive price. As long as it maintains that edge, remains consistent and predictable, India has a place as the Software backyard and the BackOffice of the world. A large IT Manpower pool and dominance of English in higher education system only helps to build India as a preferred choice for "Offshoring".

The reason why India is able to have such consistent IT & ITES workforce has nothing to do with India becoming a big power in the IT Space or brilliance of Indian Programmers or the fantastic engineers of our IITs. It is a consequence of our McCaulay System of Education which over 170 years old .

McCaulay & India

Thomas Babington McCaulay (1800-1859) was posted in India in the first half of the 19th Century (1835 -1837) under Governor General William Bentick when India was just brought fully under the control of the British Empire. The British throne exercised control on India through its agency the British "East India Company". The Company waged bloody battles for most part of the 18th Century in India to control political power and every possible resource in India. From 1784 onwards there was a "Board of Control" with members from the House of Commons which defined the relations between the Crown and the Directors of the East India Company.

Coming back to McCaulay; Thomas Babington McCaulay, a master of English prose and literature, was elected twice as the member of the House of Commons, and served as one of the commissioners of the Board of Control for 18 months (1831-1832) whereon he got involved in Indian affairs. The British crown wanted to appoint a person who was not in the offices of the East India Company as a member of the Supreme Council in India. In 1833 McCaulay was appointed to the Supreme Council of India and traveled to India. By the time he sailed backed in 1837, he laid the foundation for two of the most important systems which would change India as a country - the Indian Penal Code and the education system.

The foundation for English Education

In one of his speeches to the House of Commons in 1833 before coming to India, McCaulay outlined his plan for perpetuation of British governance in India through representative institutions of the government similar to the European model of governance. This institutional framework designed to manage the British supremacy required to be staffed with people who understood the language and the systems. So came up the need for training Indians to occupy these positions. McCaulay was of the opinion that Indians were perfectly in position to be trained to staff a new system of governance. To quote McCaulay "That the average of intelligence and virtue is very high in this country is matter for honest exultation. But it is no reason for employing average men where you can obtain superior men. Consider too, Sir, how rapidly the public mind in India is advancing , how much attention is already paid by the higher classes of the natives to those intellectual pursuits on the cultivation of which the superiority of the European race to the rest of mankind principally depends. . . ." . This observation made 172 years back is relevant even today and will find a familiar echo with many supporters of Offshoring to India.

McCaulay outlaid the plans for Indian Education System in the McCaulay' Minute of Education which was reviewed and passed by Governor General William Bentick in 1835. William Bentick agreeing to McCaulay’s view concurred that the true objective of the British government should be the promotion of European Literature and Culture in India thus laying the foundation for a permanent position for use of English Language in Indian Education. Today English has come to stay in Free India. Whether the supporters of Indian languages like it or not, it is impossible to replace English as the medium of instruction in higher education, language of governance and the language of technology long after McCaulay and the British have gone. The medium of instruction in Colleges and Universities across India is English and will remain so for a long time in future.

It is this very foundation of English based education rooted in history that makes it easier for Indians to be a preferred choice for BPOs and offshoring work from US other English Speaking countries.

The root of Indian Work Ethic
The other important perspective which often is ignored is that McCaulay education plan was not just about teaching English to Indians. It was propagating a system of governance and making Indians suitable to occupy positions in the Institutions which represented this system.

To quote "We will create a system of education that will not change their color but will make them 'white' in their thoughts.” (There is no record to show McCaulay actually used these exact words but he must have said something on similar lines). Here we have to remember that in 1830s - "white" meant largely European. At that time Europe was in the post Renaissance era where most of the foundations for what would come to be called modern science and technology was already laid. The use of mechanization was dawning upon the modern world; this would eventually lead to the Industrial Revolution and the birth of the factory system which is the rock bed of any economy even to this day. McCaulay's remarks on "white in thoughts" should be viewed from this perspective. McCaulay would never have realized that one day this bridge built to advance British dominance in India would also help free India to be able to do business and be on par with technological advances of other erstwhile British Colonies.

By the beginning of 19th Century the British dominance in India was complete. What was earlier a conglomeration of princely states with independent rulers had to be brought under a single system of governance. While the military power which helped British gain control over India in the 18th century was important, it would not help maintain a civil framework and also allow for the British rulers to discharge the fundamental duties of any ruler - to collect taxes and maintain law & order. They needed a framework of administrative and judicial institutions in India. The senior positions in these Institutions would for almost a century later be the exclusive preserve of the British, it did not make economic sense to employ British for staff positions in the offices of the government and many civil institutions. The only option was to train Indians for these positions. In a country as complex and elaborate as India it meant creation of an elaborate education system which would ultimately enable Indians to exploit job opportunities being thrown up by the British Indian Government.

The British Indian Government offered Indians the first real opportunity to be exposed to western Work Ethic. Some of the precepts of this Work Ethic would be

(a) Employment based on Qualification

(b) Fixed Work Timings,

(c) Designations associated with Job Roles

(d) Defined nature of Work

(e) Documenting work activities

(f) Job Hierarchy and promotion based on Seniority (it would still take sometime for Indians to break the Glass Ceiling and become officers in British Indian Government) and most importantly

(f) Fixed Monthly Salary.

This would be the first exposure of Indians to a new work ethic which they imbibed for over a century and would eventually build what is known as the Indian Middle Class. More than anything else, the last precept was a major attraction for a large majority of Indians. For somebody who could not suffer the vagaries of an agrarian life or did not have acumen of a trader, a job with a government institution offered opportunity for a decent livelihood as long as you had western education, communicated in English, where disciplined and obedient. That, being a part of the government increased your social standing was only a bonus. This was the primary reason Indians immediately gravitated towards this new work ethic and the education system which was the stepping stone for this opportunity. Today a large part of Indian government, trade, business and Industry still runs because of this Work ethic.

The Work Force to Staff Offices

McCaulay's contribution through his education plan, more than teaching English, was to create a system which would churn out disciplined, obedient and productive staff to man the offices of the British Indian Government.

For more than 170 years later this system of Education has remained largely unchanged. It is too elaborate and too complex for anybody to change. The precepts of the system are so fundamentally strong that it would be impossible to change. Only new layers of Higher Learning have been added to the existing system through the IITs, IIMs and other Institutions of higher learning. But the Core of the education system, the Work Ethic it imbibes and the predictability of work force it produces is the same for the last couple of centuries. Individuals vary in the degree of their learning depending on the opportunities presented to them and their individual competencies. This self sustained system of English based Western Education and Work Ethic which offers Predictability of the work force are fundamental reasons which will help India to be a preferred choice for off shoring work and establish itself in the BPO Sector. China has only now realized the importance of using English as the business transaction language and is all set to teach English to its populace with vigor. Lower Employment Cost is no doubt a distinct advantage, but a history and system which is designed to produce predictable people to handle office jobs in English is a supremely distinct advantage.

The Flip Side

This 200 year old system of Education and all its associated values has its flip side. As I have stated in the above passages, irrespective of the nature of higher learning, the core of the educational system is to produce a work force which is predictable and obedient. The Work Ethic for which the British set the foundation has predictability, obedience and repetitiveness as cornerstones. This makes a large part of the Indian workforce very good at predictable and carrying out defined activities.

Questioning things the way they are done, trying to change the rules of the game, Innovation and Creativity are something which cannot be expected out the products of this system. This is primarily the reason that even in the IT space we have a very large number of IT Services and ITES companies. The largest number of CMM Level 5 Companies (CMM is all about Consistency!) but not a single IT Product company. The situation is no different in traditional manufacturing sectors. TATAs being able to design and manufacture a passenger car named - Indica was considered a breakthrough in the Indian industry, which almost 50 years after Independence was stilling producing vehicles on western and Japanese designs. Coming out with a new product in IT or any other Industry requires individuals who are not only Innovative and Creative (Latest buzzwords) but are strongly committed to Question the very existence of things as they are now. There are no doubt positive movements towards this direction, but it will be a while before our education system can produce such individuals.

Vijay V Bhat, Mechanical Engineer and MBA from Symbiosis Centre for Management & HRD,India, currently employed as a Consultant with Infosys Technologies Ltd. The views expressed here are his and does not represent his employer. He has previously worked with manufacturing and automotive companies in India in the sales and marketing arena. He has also taught students in the Engineering and Management fields in Indian Colleges.(Also Visit :http://www.competeindia.blogspot.com)

Implanted Chips in the Brain by 2025

If we consider the long history of modern humans and their adoption of technologies and then consider the most recent hyper-advances in technology in the present period in BioTech, Computer Sciences and NanoTech, it would be silly for anyone to assume that we would not have an implanted device in humans at the time they got a Social Security Card. You see 2025 is not that far away in terms of the human endeavor.

We must realize that many human societies and civilizations maybe forced to have these devices inside their bodies and grow up with them and have no choice and thus learn to trust them within, this will occur long before 2025. The individual will of the American ideal may provide itself to be a longer hold out in the adoption of subdermal, under skull, brain and body chip implants.

As far as the technology itself; it will get smaller, more robust and better able to detect brain waves, human intent and even eventually transfer thought all the size of something less than a dime in total. These chips will have such things as add on memory, PhD in many subjects in an all-in-one chip. If you consider such concepts and take them out 100 plus years we may see that we start to lose our ability to speak. So in the far future we may not even need vocal cords and they will evolve out of the species. You see, currently humans are losing their sense of taste and smell. By 2012 or 2015 this technology will be available and humans may chose to adopt it and some may wish to have an implant brain chip.

By 2035 all those other add-ons of the chip, including brain learning while sleeping will also be available as well. Sounds like it could be a very nice SciFi novel indeed for now, but soon it will be a reality and a concept you do not even have to think about because it will already be along side of your brain thinking with you? Think on this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Preparing for a Career in Information Technology

So you want to work in the Information Technology field? In this article i'll provide some advice to those seeking employment in this field. Keep in mind these are my opinions, others may agree or disagree.

Mechanic or Engineer?

The first question to answer is which direction do you want to go? Typically there are two types of IT Staff. Those who administer and and those who create. What do I mean by this? Ask yourself if you'd rather sit in a cube and write software, create and maintain databases and develop applications, or would you rather install software, manage an e-mail system or create a network or remote access solution.

The two areas are usually comprised of employees with very different mind sets.

The administrators tend to follow a career path that goes something like this. IT Intern or PC Technician performing break/fix tasks on PC's. As they advance they may manage the larger rollout of operating systems or software applications. Keep in mind the focus is on more mechanical or problem solving tasks. Later in their career they may move on to network or server administration. The larger the impact of a mistake the further up the ladder in their career. Eventually they may manage a team of other administrators or perform some consulting services.

The engineers typically come from computer science backgrounds. They may have learned programming of various languages in college. The particular language is not important only the fact that they are creating or maintaining applications for systems and databases rather than focusing on the workings of the system its self. Many of these employees are introverts. They would prefer to work within their group and make a cube or office their home. The administrator would be perfectly happy being "visable" within the company.

Education

First let me say that a four year Bachelors degree is valuable to anyone seeking employment in the IT industry. Not sure what direction you want to go? Get a basic Business BA because it will teach you how a business operates and get you the open door to most job interviews. More accurately it will prevent you from being excluded simply because you do not have a degree. If you are the administrator type i'd also recommend a basic BA unless you find a program that has the current skills you are seeking. Mainly a variety of desktop and server operating system and networking skill path focusing on TCP/IP , DNS, WINS, DHCP and routing.

If you are on the applications path than a Computer Science major is going to get you headed in the right direction. Often companies hire right out of college because they have been teaching login and application development for decades.

Those looking into administration can count on resuming their education either by self-study using technical books, certification paths, home built networks and lastly for those with the money private non-accredited coursework at various ATEC's

Once your in your in. Until your in your way out....

When I got into this field ten years ago I took a pay cut to move from my sales position to my PC Technician position. This is because it is VERY difficult to get hired if you've never been hired. There are so many great applicants that there is no reason to take a chance on someone who only can tell you what they know. Multiply this statement X 10 with the economic downturn after the dot com boom. So get whatever resume worthy experience and references you can as fast as you can. To land even the most entry level job you'll need it.

How to get experience?

Internships are a great way to get in the door anywhere. These are positions that everyone understands and they are the mark of a hungry student. If you can get an internship (preferably paid) at a company so much the better. If you can't start volunteering for any organization that will take your skills. Churches and schools or charity's are a good start. The key is to get something on your resume that says you've been in the business.

Self Employment

The IT world is great for the self employed. For those who want to accept side work there are many ways to find it and you can do as much or little as you want. When your first starting out why not perform PC Technician or entry level web or application development and get paid? Individuals are more likely to hire you for a few hour of work and you'll gain business skills and have yet another thing to add to that resume. Remember the key is to walk into your first interview as if you've been in the biz.

Conclusion

In closing keep in mind, know your direction, get an education, and its never too early to start building that resume. Good Luck!

About The Author

John Gall works as a full time IT Manager in Minnesota and is self employeed as a Consulant for Gall Consulting http://www.gallconsulting.com; jgall@gallconsulting.com

Six Rules for Great IT Project Success

Project delivery makes IT organizations credible. When IT “gets it right” at the project level, its ability to impact the financial results of a company increases and its leadership in providing strategic direction improves. Good project delivery is the key to unlocking the door from the back-office to the boardroom.

And yet, according to a recent survey by Accenture, only 29% of IT projects are considered successful. The average cost overrun is 56%; the typical delay is 84%. After decades spent learning and implementing project management methodologies, measurements and controls, the success rate of IT projects is no better than when a single computer took up an entire room.

Now, despite the need for companies in the 21st century to innovatively embrace technology to compete, CIO’s still find themselves hearing second-hand about their company’s strategy while line-of-business executives embrace the “IT as a commodity” philosophy.

For IT to contribute to a company’s bottom-line, IT executive teams need to ensure project alignment with business strategy. Projects, and particularly large-scale programs of multiple projects, need to be run flexibly, with an eye toward the larger business picture.

The following pages present six straightforward principles – culled from our experience with Fortune 100 companies, ten person firms, mid-sized businesses and not-for-profit organizations – to turn your project into a bottom-line success.

ONE: Use Occam’s Razor

Big projects are seductive. They are also inherently risky, costly, complicated and come laden with poor track records.

William of Occam, a 14th century logician, wrote “Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.” Albert Einstein restated this as “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Apply their advice. Break up large projects into simpler, smaller projects or phases. Delineate each phase by its ability to provide an immediate and direct business benefit.

This approach has five benefits:

1. Requirements are simplified. With tighter constraints, requirements gathering quickly centers on the most crucial. Time-box the remainder as “nice-to-have.” Done well, requirements will be easier to understand, have clear connections between them, and should be easier to complete.

2. A crystal clear focus is easily achieved when working on smaller, simpler phases.

3. A succession of success can be built by rapidly delivering smaller project phases for people to easily see what they are getting for their money, time and effort.

4. Smaller phases are simpler to manage, perform quality and compliance checks on, fix, tweak or debug, and modify as environmental factors demand.

5. Phased projects are more easily paused (or halted altogether) as business conditions change. Personnel can then quickly pick up other activities.

TWO: Buffer Consistently

Critical Chain Project methodology suggests minimum 20% buffers in your project schedule. Many Finance organizations expect a 10-15% cost buffer over initial estimates on major projects. And in his book Slack (2001), Tom DeMarco points out that to be their most effective, people need approximately 20% slack or downtime during their workday.

Ironically, many project managers set up a 20% buffer in their schedules and a 10% fudge factor in their budgets yet leave their people a 0% buffer. Thus, before scope “creep” or other project changes or problems, the chances for success have been cut by one-third.

Tackle this head-on with third grade math: prior to establishing a budget or plan, assume a 6-hour workday (20% buffer) at 15 project-focused workdays a month (after factoring in vacation, illness, holidays, company meetings, etc.); in other words, 90 hours of project work a month per team member.

THREE: Prioritize the Soft-Side

Because projects are run for and by people, the primary role of the project leader is managing the “soft” people issues. The mistake most IT organizations make is to use the project leader to manage schedules, track metrics, control costs, assign resources, handling reporting and so forth. Instead, our experience has shown that successful project leaders focus first on five tasks:

1. Run “interference” for the project team(s). Projects can quickly become politically complicated. By minimizing the impact of politics on the project team members, the project leader reduces the risk of delay and scope “creep.”

2. Determine the right people to be involved, from project team members to pilot users.
3. Make the final decisions on internal project issues. When money, time and resources are constrained, management by committee is not conducive to tactical success.

4. Focus on specific goal-oriented completion of the project. Projects become imbued with changes, vague expectations, egos, etc. by project members, customers and project sponsors. The project leader must continually ask, “why.” Press for specific answers on how the change, the additional goal, etc. get the project closer to completion. Ultimately, the business needs the project completed to reap the benefits.

5. Perform quality checks at a regular interval on the schedule, the budget and the expectations of everyone involved. These are not detailed-oriented checks, but rather 10,000-foot reviews. Pick 3 random items and delve more deeply by probing with five or more questions each.

FOUR: Communicate to Ensure Accountability

According to Labformatics, one of the top reasons that IT projects fail is lack of responsibility over the project by both project teams and the customers. Take a page from the nonprofit marketplace and utilize three communication tricks to continually draw in end-users and sponsors.

First, build a simple, no frills website focused solely on the project itself. The site should contain the following:

• project goal(s)

• personnel involved

• timeframes (and current status)

• costs and allocations (i.e. “coding of purchasing interface”)

• meeting minutes

• requirements documents

• project team checklists.

You can also post the original business case as well.

Second, regularly distribute a short e-mailed newsletter with quick 8-12 word updates and links to the project website for more information. At minimum, the project update must address two ever-present questions:

• “when are we getting the business benefits from this project?”

• “how much is it costing us?”

Consider using the “5-15” rule: the update should take you no longer than 15 minutes to write and take the reader no more than 5 minutes to read.

Third, set up an unstructured blog environment for the project team members. This is critical if your project is being worked on by virtual or remote project teams, or is in 24-hour shift mode. The goal of the team blog is simple: keep everyone informed.

FIVE: Apply the Pareto Principle

In the 1800’s, Vilfredo Pareto discovered that a small portion of any activity produces a majority of the results. Now called the 80/20 Rule or the Pareto Principle, its application in the IT world is essential to project success. The Pareto Principle is intuitively being applied when you hear the phrase “good enough.”

In essence, if approximately one-fifth of the project will produce about four-fifths of the benefits, then identifying the essential one-fifth of the project will allow you to quadruple your results.

There are two techniques to determine which efforts produce 80% of your results:

1. Ask your customers and your team, “what of our efforts are producing most of the results for you?” Be ruthless; eliminate or postpone every trivial task that does not directly contribute to the delivery of the business benefits of the project.

2. Post the project goals in your office, in presentations, on your project website, etc., and turn attention to them at every question or change. Ask, “how will this improve our delivery of the benefits of this project?”

SIX: Use Two Linear Betas

All good IT projects have a beta phase. The mistake many project managers make is to set up a group of users or IT personnel as a beta rollout group without keeping in mind the ultimate project goals. To improve your results, set up two sequential beta rollouts.

Beta 1 is strictly for IT personnel who support the various departments that will be using the system (for instance, IT department liaisons). They will provide your project team with a mix of real-world testing and tweaking while gaining valuable experience and comfort with the new system.

After the project team has had a chance to address the issues from Beta 1, set up the Beta 2 group: users from each of those departments. Preferably, select two users from each department, one who has and one who has not historically been friendly to IT projects. The latter represents the one-fifth of users that provide you four-fifths of your results.

Final Thoughts

The more projects you complete successfully, the more credibility you gain. Delivering high levels of business value will bring you, and your business, the success it deserves.

Are you ready?

Copyright 2006 John Avellanet

John Avellanet is the managing director & principal consultant of Cerulean Associates LLC, a Virginia-based IT management & compliance consultancy focused on helping clients improve their bottom-line results with project assurance, program management, and IT and compliance strategies aligned with business initiatives.

New Technology of Tapes Coming Up in the Future

As Robert Frost makes clear in his famous poem, "The Road Not Taken," picking one path over another can make all the difference. While Frost had other topics in mind at the time, his point is nonetheless applicable to today's companies that are using or considering linear tape formats such as DLT, S-DLT and LTO as their data storage solution.

Legacy formats such as Digital Linear Tape (DLT) were a reasonable data storage AITernative in the past, but a combination of new business challenges and new technology choices are driving many companies to rethink their tape storage path. For example, conventional DLT systems are approaching the end of their useful life cycle, with no well-defined way to add capacity without upgrading to a new format. While Super DLT (SOLT) and Linear Tape Open (LTO) systems do have roadmaps to the future, neither format offers a compatible solution that can span the gamut of storage needs, from the entry or workstation level up to the "Super Drive" level. In addition, upgrades require a media change, making long-term use of linear solutions more cumbersome and less flexible.

Perhaps, as Frost suggests, it's time to consider a different path. Advanced Intelligent Tape[TM] (AIT) data storage solutions from Sony provide a broader range of capacities, increased performance, better reliability, easier maintenance and a more strategic path to the future than the AITernatives. Organizations choosing the AIT path will find themselves with a more flexible and integrated tape storage format that can span backup needs from individual PCs, to workgroups, to the enterprise.

AIT is a proven storage technology with years of successful enterprise deployments behind it. First appearing in 1996, AIT is a compact, helical scan 8MM tape format in a 3.5-in., half-height form factor. With its high capacity (up to 100GB per cassette), speed and reliability, AIT is emerging as a more strategic tape storage path compared with linear formats such as DLT, S-DLT and LTO. Consider the following advantages of AIT:

* Reliability -- Consistent operation and assured reliability are two critical components for a tape storage system. AIT-3 drives are designed for a mean time between failure (MTBF) of up to 400,000 hours (compared with DLT's 250,000 MTBF rating) and a 100% duty cycle.
Baba Direct provides detailed information on Tape, Duct Tape, Packing Tape, Masking Tape and more.

Tape is affiliated with Baba Direct.

Role of Information Technology

The flow of information has changed the way we live in today world. Information is the backbone of every system. Every morning when we read a newspaper having out so much information we came to know the latest happening in the world (of course in details), yeah you are right even the internet edition also. This is just a very basic example of IT.

All our Railways, Air and even sea networks are connected with the help of IT. The information is very vital for running these smoothly. Even if we have do not have information for one minute it may result into a big disaster.

We can take the example of banking. It is very to transact any amount of money from part of the world to other with help of e-commerce. We can purchase anything online with help of debit and credit cards. This has made our lives more and more simple.

Now days if we want to buy to something and are not getting it nearby store then we can simply search for that thing on internet and then order it on the internet. We will get it delivered at our doorstep with just few clicks of mouse.

Similarly if we want to travel around the world we can book airline tickets online and even book rooms for our hotels (of course at competitive rates).

People are working on the internet without really having to go outside to their workplace.

IT has changed the whole scenario.

Companies can share technologies online

Even the doctors can guide the other doctors while operating on a patient with the help of Information Technology.

A whole new world is coming in our way.

We love IT.

Cyber Force is always with YOU.

Website: http://www.cyberforce.info

Information Technology - Wrongful Termination of Contract

In the recent case, Peregrine Systems Limited v Steria Limited [2005] , a customer wrongly terminated an IT contract with its software supplier and as a result had to pay the supplier ฃ700,000 plus interests - the outstanding balance due to the supplier under the contract.

The defendant, Steria, terminated the agreement with Peregrine Systems alleging that it was entitled to terminate the contract between the parties as a result of delays and commercial misstatements. Steria also claimed damages from Peregrine.

In return, Peregrine brought proceedings against Steria for money owed under the contract. Initially, the Court held that Peregrine had not committed any breach of contract and that there had been no misstatements. The Court also held that Steria had in any event lost the right to terminate the contract because Steria had, by its conduct, affirmed the contract by continuing to use the software. Steria appealed these decisions.

The Court of Appeal decided against Steria on both as follows:

Due to the wording of the contract Peregrine was only obliged to provide ฃ200,000 worth of services and was not required to fully implement the software. Once Peregrine had provided ฃ200,000 worth of services, there was no obligation to do anything more to complete the project within a reasonable time;

A supplier having to perform “within a reasonable time” does not necessarily mean that the customer can end the contract if this is not done;

Steria had not properly communicated its dissatisfaction to Peregrine; and
Steria continued to use the software and so acted in a manner implying Steria's wish to affirm the contract.

Comment: This case highlights the importance of contractual parties clearly setting out their rights and responsibilities when entering into an IT contract. Furthermore, parties should act properly when dissatisfied with goods or services and analyse contractual documentation carefully before deciding to terminate an IT contract.

If you require further information contact us at enquiries@rtcoopers.com

ฉ RT COOPERS, 2005. This Briefing Note does not provide a comprehensive or complete statement of the law relating to the issues discussed nor does it constitute legal advice. It is intended only to highlight general issues. Specialist legal advice should always be sought in relation to particular circumstances

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I Want to Sell my Healthcare Information Technology Company - Just After This Next Big Sale

You have made the decision to sell your healthcare information technology company. Maybe it was because your prospects are selecting the inferior product but superior safety of your brand name competitor. It could be that one of the industry giants recently acquired one of your small but worthy competitors and has removed the risk component of a buyer's decision. You may think that you have a limited window of opportunity for your technology and you should sell it while it still enjoys a competitive advantage.

These are all good reasons to set your business sale process in motion. A critical element here is time. Good technology not achieving meaningful market penetration is vulnerable to competition. Given this scenario, the more rapidly you can get your acquisition opportunity in front of the viable buyers, the better your chance for more favorable sale terms and conditions.

All systems go, right? But wait. We have a major proposal out to that 30 hospital chain and when we get that deal our sale price will sky rocket. So we are just going to wait for that deal to close and then put our company up for sale.

Let me give you a gem here. We will call it the Moving Sales Pipeline Theorem. It states the sales pipeline always moves to the right. This is based on over 20 years in technology sales and sales management experience and many years of selling companies with sales pipelines. The sales either take much longer than projected or do not materialize at all.

Given this, the time critical nature of your pending business sale, and your desire to ring the bell from your 30 hospital chain deal, what do you do?

You engage a great M&A firm that specializes in Healthcare Information Technology companies (I know of one if you are interested) to sell your business. Let them focus on selling your business and you focus on running your business and closing that big sale. Get several buyers interested and negotiate for your best deal. There will be a lot of give and take here. At the right moment, as a counter to one of the buyer's points, you ask for a 6-month window post acquisition to close that deal. You then ask, for example, for an earn out incentive of 50% of the contracted first year revenues of the hospital deal as “additional transaction value” payable 30 days after the one year purchase anniversary date.

There are lots of moving parts here so let me elaborate. The first element is you do not delay your business sale process. We already established that it was time critical. Secondly, I very carefully chose the language “additional transaction value”. We want to make sure that this payment is not confused with ordinary income at double the long term capital gains tax rate. Third, you have a way better chance of closing the big hospital chain as a division of G. E. Healthcare, for example, than as XYZ Diagnostic Software, Inc. Finally, what a great way to kick off a relationship than a big collaborative sales win that makes the buyer look really smart. Your earn out check will be the most enjoyable payment they can make.

Dave Kauppi is a business broker and President of MidMarket Capital. We help business owners with all aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions.

I Want to Sell my Healthcare Information Technology Company - Just After This Next Big Sale

You have made the decision to sell your healthcare information technology company. Maybe it was because your prospects are selecting the inferior product but superior safety of your brand name competitor. It could be that one of the industry giants recently acquired one of your small but worthy competitors and has removed the risk component of a buyer's decision. You may think that you have a limited window of opportunity for your technology and you should sell it while it still enjoys a competitive advantage.

These are all good reasons to set your business sale process in motion. A critical element here is time. Good technology not achieving meaningful market penetration is vulnerable to competition. Given this scenario, the more rapidly you can get your acquisition opportunity in front of the viable buyers, the better your chance for more favorable sale terms and conditions.

All systems go, right? But wait. We have a major proposal out to that 30 hospital chain and when we get that deal our sale price will sky rocket. So we are just going to wait for that deal to close and then put our company up for sale.

Let me give you a gem here. We will call it the Moving Sales Pipeline Theorem. It states the sales pipeline always moves to the right. This is based on over 20 years in technology sales and sales management experience and many years of selling companies with sales pipelines. The sales either take much longer than projected or do not materialize at all.

Given this, the time critical nature of your pending business sale, and your desire to ring the bell from your 30 hospital chain deal, what do you do?

You engage a great M&A firm that specializes in Healthcare Information Technology companies (I know of one if you are interested) to sell your business. Let them focus on selling your business and you focus on running your business and closing that big sale. Get several buyers interested and negotiate for your best deal. There will be a lot of give and take here. At the right moment, as a counter to one of the buyer's points, you ask for a 6-month window post acquisition to close that deal. You then ask, for example, for an earn out incentive of 50% of the contracted first year revenues of the hospital deal as “additional transaction value” payable 30 days after the one year purchase anniversary date.

There are lots of moving parts here so let me elaborate. The first element is you do not delay your business sale process. We already established that it was time critical. Secondly, I very carefully chose the language “additional transaction value”. We want to make sure that this payment is not confused with ordinary income at double the long term capital gains tax rate. Third, you have a way better chance of closing the big hospital chain as a division of G. E. Healthcare, for example, than as XYZ Diagnostic Software, Inc. Finally, what a great way to kick off a relationship than a big collaborative sales win that makes the buyer look really smart. Your earn out check will be the most enjoyable payment they can make.

Dave Kauppi is a business broker and President of MidMarket Capital. We help business owners with all aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions.

Nanotechnology

As the horizons of technology expand, the real world is shrinking into a Global Village; Nanotechnology is the new area of interest in technology.
Nanotechnology is an umbrella term that covers many areas of research dealing with objects that are measured in nanometers or billionth of meter. It is a hybrid science combining engineering and chemistry. The goal of nanotechnology is to manipulate atoms individually and place them in a pattern to produce a desired structure. Nano-sized machines called assemblers, that can be programmed to manipulate atoms and molecules at will, would be used to build consumer goods. Some nanomachines called replicators, would be programmed to build assemblers.

Nanotechnology would enable creation of new generation of computer components with enormous storage capacity. But the greatest impact of nanotechnology could be the medical industry. Patients would drink fluids containing nanorobots programmed to attack and reconstruct the molecular structure of cancer cells and viruses to makes them harmless. Nanorobots could also be programmed to perform delicate surgeries.

For environmental clean-up, airborne nanorobots could be user programmed to rebuild the thinning ozone layer. Contaminants could be automatically removed from water sources, and spill could be cleaned up instantly.
Nanotechnology was first introduced in 1959, in a talk by the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", Feynman proposed using a set of conventional-sized robot arms to construct a replica of themselves, but one-tenth of the original size, then using that new set of arms to manufacture an even smaller set, and so on, until the molecular-scale is reached. if we had many million or billions of such molecular-scale products built from individual molecules - a "bottom-up manufacturing" technique, as opposed to the usual technique of cutting away material until you have a completed component or product -"top-down manufacturing".

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New Technology Makes Schools A Safer Place

What's the most important thing about schools and the education system?

There's likely to be many different answers to this question depending on whether you're a parent, a teacher, a school governor or indeed a pupil. There's one thing that virtually everyone will agree on though and that is making sure our schools and nurseries are safe environments.

So with safety perhaps the major issue with modern schools what steps can schools take to make sure their school is as safe as possible?

Here are just 5 ways in which schools can use new technology to make sure their staff, pupils and the school is as safe as possible:

CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television)

With over 4.2 million CCTV camera's in the UK alone (one for every 14 people) this method of security is now common place. CCTV is used for a wide variety of things but for schools the use of CCTV allows for the monitoring of property and people. There has been much debate over the effectiveness of CCTV as a means of crime prevention but capturing criminal or anti-social behaviour both inside and outside of schools can certainly lead to action being taken against the culprits and also hopefully reduce the likelihood of it even happening in the first place.

Security Lighting

As the dark winter nights are now upon us and with children and teachers often starting and ending school in darkness (or dusk) then having adequate lighting is very popular. Security lighting can act in 2 ways. Firstly it gives pupils and employees more confidence by providing a well lit and seemingly safe environment. Not only that security lighting may also deter would be criminals and trouble makers.

Intruder Alarms

You're lying in bed fast asleep having a wonderful dream when BANG, a car alarm goes off and interrupts your peaceful sleep. And stays on for what seems like an eternity. It finally gets turned off and you can’t back to sleep! Sound familiar? Is so you'll know what impact an intruder alarm can have. For schools this is important as depending on the type of alarm you have it can alert other teachers, school workers, school children and/or the police. The result hopefully being that whatever caused the alarm to be activated, stops. And you, your school and your staff and pupils are safe.

Access Control Panels

These can be used by schools to prevent access to the building or to specific areas within the school. They can be used to make staff feel safer and to prevent unwanted visitors to certain areas.

Two Way Radio

The mobile phone has meant it is easier than ever to stay in touch but mobile phones suffer from cost issues and lack of coverage which means they aren't used by schools. The good news for schools is that modern Two Way Radio allows employees (from teachers to ground staff) to stay in touch wherever they are for just the cost of the actual handset. No rental charges, no call charges and a fast and highly effective way to stay in touch both within the school and on field trips make Two Way Radio a must for any school with a focus on security and safety.

Make sure your School, your staff and your pupils are secure and safe and make sure modern technology works for you.

This article was written by Mark Burdett, Marketing Manager of Northern Counties Insurance Brokers and Marketing Consultant.

For information on Two Way Radios and how they can be used in your school visit Apex Radio Systems at http://www.apexradio.co.uk. Apex Radio are the UK's Leading Providers of Radio Equipment to Schools through their School Watch scheme and now have the brand new ICOM F25SR Handset which gives Schools an affordable and mobile way to stay in touch.

Fire Evacuation Drill with a Difference

I had been given the task to organize a fire evacuation drill
specifically for only a certain area in a building.

As ridiculous as it may seem, there was a very good reason
for doing this.

Firstly, this is a high technology manufacturing facility that
manufactures products under extremely clean and dust-free
conditions. With clean room facilities standard that goes down
to class 10, it is very, very clean indeed. As such it is very
important that dust do not enter into the clean room under
manufacturing conditions. So in the past, all evacuation drills
were done just before we had a planned plant shutdown for
maintenance.

Secondly, during the past few years, whenever an evacuation
drill was organized, the administration offices were usually
closed, and all the workers will be making use of the
opportunity to take their vacation. Practically nobody will be
around. Even the production workers will be taking their
vacation when they have stopped all their machines and handed
over the plant for shutdown maintenance.

So when the office workers say that they do not know what to
do in a fire situation, we can fully understand why. They had
not been taking part in any fire evacuation drill before. It is
not enough just to describe what will happen in an evacuation
to them - somehow, we have to organize an actual evacuation
drill for the office workers themselves. The challenge is to do
it while the manufacturing production is still operating.

Any mistake that will cause people from the manufacturing clean
rooms to evacuate will be disastrous to the company. The stakes
are high.

The fire protection alarm system in our building is wired in
such a way that any triggering of the alarm by activating a
break glass, smoke detector, heat detector or sprinkler flow
switch will eventually trigger the general alarm for the whole
building if it is not acknowledged and reset back within 3
minutes. This is a safety feature to ensure that somebody
actually goes and check the situation whenever there is an
alarm.

In our fire evacuation plan, all the occupants had been trained
to open the doors of the nearest exit point and escape from the
building whenever it is confirmed that a real fire or emergency
has occurred. This will ensure that nobody is left inside the
building if there is a real emergency.

However, as far as our manufacturing clean room is concerned,
this will be disastrous. All the products, rooms, machinery and
clean room environment will be destroyed once the doors were
opened to the atmosphere. It will take hours to recover back to
the original condition. The losses will be enormous.

Although normal communications through supervisors and public
address systems can be done, still there is too much at stake to
take that risk.

That was our first option. Relying on human communications
leaves too much on uncertainty. We have to make it completely
idiot-proof. This option is not fool proof. Somebody might claim
that they did not get the message.

Our second option was to re-program the fire alarm system to
exclude all the areas in the clean rooms. This option was a bit
tricky as there were some uncertainty as to how the alarm bells
were wired up. We had to admit that although everything was drawn on paper on the as-built drawings, we were not 100% sure whether the re-programming will cover all the alarm bells inside the clean rooms or not. Moreover, there had been some renovation done on the existing building and nobody had taken the trouble to test the alarm bells then. So this option was also shelved.

Our third option was to re-wire the existing bells specifically
only for the offices, so that we can trigger only the office
areas. This seems a pretty good option, except that the
preparation re-wiring work will have to be done at the
installation itself. During the re-wiring period, the office
itself would not be protected by the fire alarm system. In
addition, the original wires would need to be disturbed and
re-looped - something engineering people would not be keen to do - as it might give rise to other unexpected problems.

Our fourth option - to fabricate and install addition bells with
triggering switches and fix them just beside the existing bells
seemed to be the best option. By using additional bells,
batteries, switches and getting them wired up at a portable stand
in a workshop, they could be tested, carried along and put in
place within a very short time. The best feature of this option
is that the original fire alarm wiring need not be disturbed at
all.

Choosing the fourth option, we fabricated three sets of alarm
bell triggering units and placed them at the appropriate places
at the offices. When the time for triggering the alarm bells came,
an order was issued through the walkie-talkie and the bells were
triggered by the technicians at those stations.

So, we managed to organize the fire evacuation drill for the
offices only. Nobody evacuated from the manufacturing clean rooms
because the bells were not sounded there. All the office workers
had their evacuation drill and everything went on smoothly.

A potentially huge manufacturing loss was avoided by adopting a
simple idea. A workable idea born out of necessity.

"For Busy People Luxury Furnishing Impress Customers"

Your Office Furnishing Represents Your Business! Beautiful Rugs
Make Customers Responsive to Your Sales Pitch. Impress Your
Customers and Become Successful!

Many years of working experience in Marine, Facilities,
Construction has given the author material for writing e-books
and articles related to engineering, and management. Subscribe to facworld ezine

More information at Marine Engineer and M & E Engineer

Information Technology In India

India is a country with an ancient civilization and a rich tradition of culture dating back to many centuries. Her literary heritage is one of the oldest in the world. The Indian tradition of learning has reached gradually to the age of modern Information Technology, culminating into the latest Software technology available anywhere in the world.

India is proud to have a pulsating world of Software Personnel spread all over the vast Information Technology country. We develop Software in English language which, though of foreign origin, is a rich one, giving us facility for international communication.

India has made rapid strides in the field of software and today Indian software developing is one of the greatest in the world and can be counted among the first IT nations. Besides, India is the only country in the third world which is self-sufficient in software development.

There are a number of IT companies bringing out nearly a large number of software every year, of which mostly are in English. Indian software covers a wide range of subjects including School Management System, School ERP System, College Management System. In recent years, software on education and technology, medicines and computers etc. developed by Indian IT professionals, have also made a mark in international IT sector. Over the years, the production quality of Indian software for schools, colleges and universities has improved considerably and with its low production costs, India is now fast emerging as a centre of quality software development. Many foreign IT companies are now availing the services of Indian software personnel and software companies.

Today, India exports software including software for schools, colleges and universities to West European countries, USA, Australia and many more countries of the world. Some of the IT companies also have been able to make a mark in the international software circles and, therefore, IT companies around the world are now turning to India for their requirements especially for School Management Software, College Management Software and University Campus Management Software.

Now trends are emerging in the field of Information Technology. Research has already shifted to Internet and electronic media. The Indian IT is finding its own solutions and strategies to meet the situation and surge forward in the field of school automation, college automation and university campus automation.

Information Technology in India is truly colossus - assort of 'giant in slumbers' with needs to be awakened and given its due status and identity.

I work for Dreamteam Network Solutions (P) Ltd., and I am in charge of promotions. Our company develops softwares for schools, colleges and universities. For a complete and detailed description of our Company please visit http://www.dreamteam.co.in and http://www.literom.net.

Historical Advances in Producing Electricity From the Sun

When politicians start talking about renewable energy, you know we have problems. Solar energy is a significant renewable energy and here is an overview of how the technology has developed.

Historical Advances in Producing Electricity From the Sun

Solar electricity is simply energy produced by harnessing the sun. It comes in many forms including electricity production through panels, home heating through passive systems and mobile packets for powering devices like laptops and RVs to mention only a few platforms.

Historically, sunlight has been used by mankind to produce heat ever since we first built structures. Without electricity, mankind soon learned to orient structures to capture the heat of the sun during the day and store it in ceramic or mud materials much like a blacktop parking lot will radiate heat after the sun has gone down. Early Greek structures show a particular use of this solar strategy as do Egyptian structures.

The production of electricity using sunlight is a much more recent phenomena. In 1901, Nicolas Tesla was the first person to receive a patent related to solar electricity, but he called it radiant heating. He sought a patent for a machine to capture the radiant heat, but nothing much came of the invention.

In 1904, some unknown physicist named Albert Einstein published a paper on the potential electricity production from sunlight. In 1913, William Coblentz received the first patent for a solar cell, but he could never make it work. In 1916, Robert Millikan was the first to produce electricity with the cell. For the next forty years or so, nobody made much progress because the cells were highly inefficient at converting sunlight to energy.

In the 1950s, Bell Labs got involved with NASA. Bell was charged with coming up with a solar platform to power spacecraft once they were in orbit. The solar industry would never be the same.

Gerald L. Pearson, Daryl M. Chapin, and Calvin S. Fuller started researching different areas related to solar, but not active parts of the NASA project. By luck, they meet and exchanged ideas. While their individual projects were failures, their combined efforts produce a much more efficient cell using crystallized silicon to convert sunlight into electricity. The efficiency rate of the cells was roughly 6 percent, a marked improvement over previous technology. In 1958, NASA launched the Vanguard Spacecraft, which was powered by solar panels.

In the following years, solar technology grew in leaps and bounds. Solar panels today are roughly 15 percent efficient, but also much smaller than they use to be. More importantly, companies are abandoning the panel platform and coming out with amazing new products. The first are shingles that look exactly like regular roof shingles and perform as such. Nanotechnology is also offering amazing possibilities with quantum dots, which are essentially solar panels on the quantum level. Eventually, these dots will be incorporated in things such as paint. Yes, the paint on the walls of buildings and homes will eventually also produce all the electricity needed for the structures.

Man has used the power of the sun for heat for a very long time. Only now, however, are we starting to master the technology to turn it into large amounts of free electricity.

Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com, a directory of solar energy companies. Visit us to read more articles on solar power and renewable energy.

H1b Visa and Asia

Recently, American president George Bush called for increasing the number of H1B Visa so that more skilled professionals can come from across the world for scientific and high tech jobs in USA. This call is in a way a surprising matter as American economy is right now not at its best condition. Rising oil price and Iraq war have put the American economy in the back foot for the last few years and rate of unemployment is gradually becoming a major cause of concern for the American people. American workers are losing manufacturing jobs to China and technology jobs to Indian workers. Therefore, the call for increasing the number of H1B Visa may seem to be a shock to many.

Why Bush wants to increase number of H1B Visa?

President Bush emphasized on the need for America to remain highly competitive in science and technology. USA emerged as the world's richest country after the Second World War and it continued to rise and grow all the time. Perhaps the main factor behind this constant growth is highly skilled workforce and entrepreneurs. On the one hand, entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bejos almost single handedly and out of nothing managed successfully to build world class companies like Microsoft, Apple and amazon.com. However, they could expand because they always had the best workers. Their workers had varied backgrounds and came from different parts of the world. To allow US companies get best workers from abroad, American Government introduced H1B visa under which US companies can recruit highly skilled professionals from other countries. Currently the number of H1B visa that US government issues annually is 65,000 and it was 195,000 a few years ago during the time of dotcom boom.

Dotcom crash and H1B

Things did not go very well for the American technological companies in the last 5 years and a number of companies (especially dotcom companies) were shut down. However, it seems now that the worst is really over and the US government is also getting keen to see USA remain as the market leader in the technology sector. That is why most probably, we will see an increase in H1B visa in the near future. Even if it does not take place this time it is most likely to happen next year. Any increase in this number will have a positive impact on the Asian economy countries like China and India are the leaders in getting H1B Visa.

Indian success:

In the last one decade, India was the major player as its workers received the largest number of H1B visas. Good technical know how coupled with high level of skill in English language have helped Indian technological professionals to shine in the US market. Decrease in the number of Visas from 195,000 to 65,000 did not help India at all as the number of people studying in technological fields is increasing all the time. At the same time, those professionals who go to USA with H1B Visa benefit the Indian economy in 3 ways. First of all, they get good salary and when they send a considerable portion of their income to their families in India, Indian economy is blessed with the arrival of hard currency. Secondly, the Indian workers help to uplift the image or goodwill of India as a country with abundance professionals with high technical and English language skills. This paves way for more recruits from India in the coming days. The third benefit is that the workers who work through H1B Visa get real experience in working in USA- the most competitive economy in the world. After completing their works, many of them return to India and use their experience and this has greatly benefited the Indian technology sector. Now, India is not only a country with a huge pool of talented techies but also is gradually building a very stable and solid leadership in the technology world. In other words, Indian technology sector is gaining its inner strength.

Let the market demand rule

Indian government and the technology industry have taken the matter of H1B Visa very seriously and are going to lobby hard with US administration when George Bush visits India in the coming days. Indian technology leaders will urge US president George Bush and others in the American Administration to let the market demand determine the number of visas instead of binding it to a fixed number.

What about the other countries in Asia?

China has already established its own presence in the technology sector of USA. China is pursuing very aggressively its own goal of improving the English language skills of its students so that it can be at per with India in the software field. The other countries in Asia that can take advantage of any increase in number of H1B Visa are Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Hong Kong (under China), Singapore, Bangladesh, Philippines etc as these countries are pursuing their excellence in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and also their workforce are more or less skilled in English language.

What next?

Right now US administration and Congressmen are with a very peculiar dilemma. On the one hand, they are not very enthusiastic to increase the quota in H1B visa as unemployment figure in USA is not very rosy. On the other hand, USA needs influx of the most talented and skilled workers from around the world to keep its leadership in the technology sector intact in the long term. George Bush has already stated his own inclination towards increasing number of H1B Visa. Now it is up to the members of Congress to take the final decision. Whatever way they choose it is going to make some people unhappy- no doubt about that.

I am a Reseacrher and Freelance journalist here in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Right now, I am writing my M Phil thesis on Role of English Language in Information Technology Sector of Bangladesh. I am a Member of Editorial Board of the leading ICT Magazine of Bangladesh, Computer Bichitra . Besides this I have some past expereince of Teaching English Language in the UNiversity level and also being a Research Assistant for MBA department in a University. I have been writing in newspapers and magazines for the last 10 years and I have published more than 400 artilces, featuures, reports, interviews, and tranlsations on various topics. My website: http://www.ict-bd.com My blogs: http://asianbiz.blogspot.com/

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Looking to Sell Your Information Technology Company - Avoid Some Common Mistakes

Selling your information technology business is the most important transaction you will ever make. Mistakes in this process can greatly erode your transaction proceeds. Do not spend twenty years of your toil and skill building your business like a pro only to exit like an amateur. Below are ten common mistakes to avoid:

1. Selling because of an unsolicited offer to buy - One of the most common reasons owners tell us they sold their business was they got an offer from a competitor or more often these days, an Indian company looking to buy a customer base in the United States. If you previously were not considering this business sale, you probably have not taken some important personal and business steps to exit on your terms. The business may have some easily correctable issues that could detract from its value. You may not have prepared for an identity and lifestyle to replace the void caused by the separation from your company. If you are prepared, you are more likely to exit on your own terms.

2. Poor books and records - Business owners wear many hats. Sometimes they become so focused on the next version release that they are lax in financial record keeping. A buyer is going to do a comprehensive look into your financial records. If they are done poorly, the buyer loses confidence in what he is buying and his perception of risk increases. If he finds some negative surprises late in the process, the purchase price adjustments can be harsh. The transaction value is often attacked well beyond the economic impact of the surprise. Get a good accountant to do your books.

3. Going it alone - The business owner may be the foremost expert in GUI interfaces, but it is likely that his business sale will be a once in a lifetime occurrence. Mistakes at this juncture have a huge impact. It is especially critical to have a good M&A advisor if you are selling an information technology company because these companies do not fit traditional company valuation metrics. If an owner does not get the right representation and have several qualified buyers that covet his technology, he possibly can leave a lot of money on the table. Selling a technology company is complex. Is it a better deal to structure some of the transaction value as an earn out based on post acquisition sales performance?

Do you understand the difference in after tax proceeds between an asset sale and a stock sale? Your everyday bookkeeper may not, but a tax accountant surely does. Is your business attorney familiar with business sales legal work? Would he advise you properly on Reps and Warranties that will be in the purchase agreement? Your buyer's team will have this experience. Your team should match that experience of it will cost you way more than their fees.

4. Skeletons in the closet - If your company has any, the due diligence process will surely reveal them. One of the key issues in information technology companies is the clear title to intellectual property. Are your employee agreements well written? If you hired outside programmers, was their agreement specific in ownership of their output? The concern of the buyer is that once it becomes public that the deep pockets company is owner, previous disgruntled employees or contractors may resurface looking to bring legal action.

Before your firm is turned inside out and the buyer spends thousands in this process and before the other interested buyers are put on hold - reveal that problem up-front. We sold a company that had an outstanding CFO. In the first meeting with us, he told us of his company's under funded pension liability. We were able to bring the appropriate legal and actuarial resources to the table and give the buyer and his advisors plenty of notice to get their arms around the issue. If this had come up late in the process, the buyer might have blown up the deal or attacked transaction value for an amount far in excess of the potential liability.

5. Letting the word out - Confidentiality in the business sale process is crucial. If your competitors find out, they can cause a lot of damage to your customers and prospects. It can be a big drain on employee morale and productivity. What if your head of systems development gets skittish and entertains offers from other companies and leaves while you are selling? The buyer wants your top people and they represent a significant portion of your future transaction value. If word you are for sale gets out, your suppliers and bankers get nervous. Nothing good happens when the work gets out that your company is for sale.

6. Poor Contracts - Here we mean the day-to-day contracts that are in place with employees, customers, contractors, and suppliers. Do your employees have non-competes, for example? If your company has intellectual property, do you have very clear ownership rights defined in your employee and contractor agreements. If not, you could be looking at meaningful escrow holdbacks post closing. Are your customer agreements assignable without consent? If they are not, customers could cancel post transaction. Your buyer will make you pay for this one way or another. If you are tempted to sign that big deal at bargain rates to pump up your business selling price, think again. Locking in a contract at below market rates could actually cause a discount to your selling price.

7. Bad employee behavior - You need to make sure you have agreements in place so that employees cannot hold you hostage on a pending transaction. Key employees are key to transaction value. If you suspect there are issues, you may want to implement stay on bonuses. If you have a bad actor, firing him or her during a transaction could cause issues. You may want to be pre-emptive with your buyer and minimize any damage your employee might cause.

8. No understanding of your company's value - Business valuations are complex. A good business broker or M & A advisor that has experience in your industry is your best bet. Business valuation firms are great for business valuations for gift and estate tax situations, divorce, etc. They tend to be very conservative and their results could vary significantly from your results from three strategic buyers in a battle to acquire your firm. Where a services business may sell for between 75% and 100% of last years sales, for example, technology companies are all over the map. One of our clients had a coveted piece of software technology and was able to get 8 X last years sales as his purchase price. We certainly could not have and would not have predicted that at the start of the engagement, but what a nice surprise. When it comes to selling your company, let the competitive market provide a value.

9. Getting into an auction of one - This is a silly visual, but imagine a big auction hall at Sotheby's occupied by an auctioneer and one guy with an auction paddle. “Do I hear $5 million? Anybody $5.5 million?' The guy is sitting on his paddle. Pretty silly, right? And yet we hear countless stories about a competitor coming in with an unsolicited offer and after a little light negotiating the owner sells. Another common story is the owner tells his banker, lawyer, or accountant that he is considering selling. His well-meaning professional says, “I have another client that is in your business. I will introduce you.” The next thing you know the business is sold. Believe me, these folks are buying you business at a big discount. That's not silly at all!

10. Giving away value in negotiations and due diligence - When selling your business, your objective is to get the best terms and conditions. I know this is a shocker, but the buyer is trying to pay as little as possible and he is trying to get contractual terms favorable to him. These goals are not compatible with yours. The buyer is going to fight hard on issues like total price, cash at close, earn outs, seller notes, reps and warranties, escrow and holdbacks, post closing adjustments, etc. If you get into a meet in the middle compromise negotiation, before you know it, your Big Mac is a Junior Cheeseburger.

Due diligence has a dual purpose. The first is obviously to insure that the buyer knows exactly what he is paying for. The second is to attack transaction value with adjustments. Of course this happens after their LOI has sent the other bidders away for 30 to 60 days of exclusivity. If you don't have a good team of advisors, this can get expensive

As my dad used to say, there is no replacement for experience. Another saying is that when a man with money and no experience meets a man with experience, the man with the experience walks away with the money and the man with the money walks away with some experience. Keep this in mind when contemplating the sale of your business. It will likely be your first and only experience. Avoid these mistakes and make that experience a profitable one.

Dave Kauppi is a business broker and President of MidMarket Capital. We help business owners with all aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions.

New Technology Simplifies Searching for Mission Viejo Real Estate

Searching for real estate in Mission Viejo can be a trying and frustrating experience. Financing, researching schools, determining the best neighborhood, evaluating if home is priced fairly, and missing out on great new listings or price reductions. Working with a good local Mission Viejo realtor can make this easier, and using today's modern computer and internet technologies can also greatly simplify the home searching process and assure that one will not miss out on a newly listed home for sale in Mission Viejo.

Years ago, a home buyer had to rely on the diligence of their Mission Viejo Real Estate agent to search the market every day for newly listed real estate. But even the best agents are still human... they need some time off, go on vacations, work with other clients, etc. These distractions can sometimes result in the perfect listing being missed and purchased by some other buyer.

Today, a typical internet based new listing email alert service never sleeps, never rests, and can work with hundreds of clients at that same time and never miss a newly listed real estate in Mission Viejo. These computer systems are programmed to seek out newly listed homes that match a buyers criteria, such as: price range, city(s), type of property, bedrooms and baths, living area, age, lot size, etc. It then compares each new listing to these filter parameters, and if a match is found, these systems email a notification to the prospective buyer. The email contains all the detailed information about the new Mission Viejo real estate listing, or a listing with a new price reduction.

When using these services, it is a good idea not place to many restrictions on the search criteria, and here is why. Some listing agents will leave out information from a new listing for various reasons, such as lot size, home living area square footage, downstairs bedroom, etc. If these parameters are missing from the listing, and the automated home finding service is programmed to filter out a new Mission Viejo listing if these parameters don't match up, then one may miss out on a potentially great home to buy. Therefore, it’s a better idea to minimize the search parameters and manually review each new real estate listing found by the system, for the other less prominent features.

Mr. Bindi is a licensed Real Estate Broker in Orange County CA. He's sold over 700 homes, and has Bachelors and Masters of Science degrees. For more information about Mission Viejo Real Estate, visit his website: http://www.Search-OCHomes.com

Night Vision - The Magic Technology

Night Vision helps humans see in what we call the dark. Humans see in only a small part of the light spectrum. Light is made of waves of energy and the longer the wave is, the less energy it has. The shorter a wave is, the more energy it contains which means that the visible light we see has a range of energy levels. Red is the lowest. Violet has the highest energy. The colour spectrum increases in energy as you go from red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and the highest violet. Below the visible red waves, we can see are even lower energy waves called infrared. We can also call these heat waves. The infrared part of the light spectrum can be divided into three types. Near infrared is closest to visible red light. Mid infrared waves are longer and farther away from visible red light. Thermal infrared has longer wavelengths still. Violet is the highest visible wavelength, which humans can see. Above the violet coloured waves, we see in the visible light spectrum, are the ultra violet waves, which has higher energy waves than visible violet light.

Night vision devices can help you see a great distance away on a cloudy night when there is no moon light and it works in two ways.

One way uses light that that we cannot see toward the infrared end of the light spectrum. This light is amplified to the point where we can see images.

A lens focuses visible and infrared light into a special electronic tube that intensifies a dim image into a strong one. The few photons that exist in the dim light are converted to electrons. The electrons, pushed by a strong voltage within the tube, collide with the sides of the slightly bent tube to create thousands of electrons. Electrons hitting other electrons in the micro channels of the vacuum tube generate thousands more electrons than there were to start with. There is a screen covered with phosphers at the end of the tube. When the electrons hit the phosphers they become excited. A greenish light is given off in the image of what there is to be seen.

Another way night vision is achieved is by using the heat objects give off. This is how thermal imaging works. The light given off by warm objects is focused by a specially designed lens. This infrared light hits an electronic detector device, which creates a detailed pattern of the differences in temperature. This pattern is called a thermogram. The information held in the thermogram is transformed into electrical impulses. A little computer creates usable data from the electrical impulses and the data is processed more and sent to a display where it is seen as various colours, depending on how much infrared light an object was giving off. There must be a temperature difference between objects and their surroundings to detect images. This image can be viewed through a scope like in a pair of binoculars or on a monitor screen.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Night Vision

Technology and the Pace of Change in our Lives is Becoming More Rapid

The pace of change is accelerating. In today’s vernacular, the paradigm shift is happening twice as fast. Technology of today, will be obsolete shortly. In the case of information technology, in less than one year, progress is doubling.

Information technology covers more than computers, software and electronics. Researchers are making vast strides in health care issues, medicine and drugs. They are discovering how drugs work and actually the reason why they work.

Scientists are now working on the human genome. This is our genetic code. Imagine, they are discovering what makes the cells of the body work as they do The genome projected was completed three years ago that is why we can move so much faster now. The amount of genetic data we can decode is doubling every ten months. The price of decoding a gene base pair is declining to less than a penny today. This is dramatic since the cost in 1990 was $10.00 a pair.

It took our researchers fifteen years to sequence the HIV virus. They sequenced the SARS virus in one month and now are capable of sequencing a virus in just a few days. We can now develop models on major diseases. Image being able to reprogram the body to not accept cancer, heart and many other debilitating diseases.

My mind is telling me that is the future of my youth. When baby boomers were young, man went to the moon and technology especially space technology became a paradigm shift. Now the shift has changed and the future is here. Where do you think the future shifts will occur?

Nan is an Accountant and Real Estate Professional with an information and research site online

ModernTechnology and a Business
Writer with a blog BusinessTips

Old and New Technology Being Used at the US Mexican Border

Many Americans do not realized that the United States of America in the United States border patrol or using some old technologies and some very state-of-the-art technologies to prevent illegal immigrants and illegal aliens from entering our country.

Additionally these technologies, both old and new are preventing drug smugglers, coyote human smugglers and MS-13 gang members from sneaking over our borders. It is good to know that the United States of America is using all options to prevent illegal entry into our country. Having high-tech toys and using low-tech solutions seems to be helping quite a bit.

On the low-tech side they are using large berms, which prevent people from coming across in four-wheel-drive SUVs, which are often used to smuggle people and drugs into our nation. Fences are also being put up around residential and urban areas areas and many more will be put up along private ranches.

On the high-tech side we have unmanned aerial vehicles UAVs and Aerostats or tethered mini blimps with eyes in the sky. We also have infrared cameras, which show body heats available to border patrol. And old this has had an effect, since 2001 over 6 million people have been caught illegally trying to get into the country and have been turned back or returned. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Classic Arcade Games Emulation On New Technology

You might wonder what an emulator is. Emulators allow your computer to act like a console system such as the Apple IIe or the Atari 2600, which are used to emulate the hardware of a variety of classic arcade games.

Are all classic arcade games emulated? No, but those games made before 1992 are. Not all systems are easy to emulate.

Why is there a need to emulate classic arcade games? There are three major reasons why:

1. Popularity – if the system is popular, even if it is classic, the more effort is pushed to emulate it.

2. Availability of the Information – if the system contains a lot of information, it will be easier to emulate. If a game has never been emulated before, it will require a lot of reverse engineering, which could at times be frustrating.

3. Technical Hurdles – the hardware limits restrictions that are hard to avoid. For example, it took quite some time before the Atari 7800 was emulated, due to the encryption algorithm which prohibited games from being loaded. In addition, newer systems may lack the absolute horsepower to have the game run at a playable, and faster speed.

Although emulators are difficult to run, especially if it is your first time, you must download an emulator and unzip it. If you are not familiar with the procedures, you must read the documentation carefully.

Emulators are compound pieces of software. Most emulators may not perfectly emulate the capability of the system it is trying to copy. The imperfections in some emulators may be minor, sometimes timing problems may occur. Some emulators won’t run games at all, or worse have some display problems. Some emulators may be deficient in joystick support, sound, and other significant features.

In writing an emulator, you will undergo a difficult process which requires attaining the precise system information, and figuring out how to emulate it with the software code.

There are two different types of emulators. The first one is the single-system or the single-game emulator. Examples of these are an Atari 2600 emulator, NES emulator, and an Apple II emulator. These emulators can only emulate one kind of game or system. The second type of emulators is the multi-emulators. The best example of this is the Multi-Arcade Machine Emulator or the MAME. MAME can emulate hundreds of arcade games, although not all arcade games can run on the same kind of system. That is a huge generalization, but the reason multi-emulators require more resources compared to single system emulators, in most cases.

The start of emulation has opened a lot of opportunities for companies to take advantage of their resources. Why spend a lot of time reprogramming or porting the classic arcade games to a new console when you can easily write an upright emulator. Emulation is the solution to these problems, and gives the gamers an exact replica of the classic games they love and want to acquire.

About The Author

Simon Oliver has an interest in Arcade Games. To access more articles on Arcade Games http://www.arcadegameresources.info or for additional information and resources visit this Arcade Games http://www.onlinearcadegameresources.info related website

It is Not About Superior Technology!

There are many differences between managing mature markets and new ones, where innovation plays a central role. In existing and mature markets companies follow the principles of good management. They protect intellectual property, try to be the first to market, invest in internal capabilities and superior technology.

In emerging and innovative markets, however, a completely different managerial mindset is required. Competing in those markets, contrary to what most people believe, is not about having a superior technology.

It is beyond discussion the fact that technological excellence is a building block of competitive advantage in most industries. In emerging markets, however, superior technology is neither necessary nor sufficient to win.

The introduction of the Computer-Assisted Tomography systems illustrates the point. The first CAT scanner was introduced in 1972 by EMI, a British firm that patented all the key technologies involved. The system basically transferred X-rays and other diagnostic information into a three-dimensional computerized image.

After a couple of years established manufacturers of medical equipment, including General Electric and Siemens, jumped into the new market. EMI, however, did not feel threatened. It had undoubtedly the best technology around; its scanners had a much higher definition and more advanced features.

General Electric knew it could not compete head to head with EMI, it decided therefore to invest in scanners with a faster scanning speed, at the expense of image quality. After some years General Electric had conquered the vast majority of US market for CAT scanners, despite its inferior technology.

Over that period all the major hospitals were having critical problems with patient throughput, hence why they decided to go with General Electric’s equipment. EMI invested too much in its technology and ignored what was happening in the surrounding environment. Competing in emerging markets is not about superior technology but rather about understanding the customer’s need and evolving your product rapidly to match the changes in the market place.

Check out the Innovation Zen site for more information on innovation management, business strategy, technology and more.

Getting Your Information Technology Career Started

Many newcomers to Information Technology get an overly-optimistic picture of the field from tech school ads that continually make note that "an average MCSE salary is $80.000 a year!".

And if someone's thinking of getting into IT and goes on the internet to do some research, they're met with the opposite end of the spectrum - complaint after complaint about how much IT is a terrible field, you can't break in, there's no room for newcomers, etc.

As usual, the truth lies in the middle. As much as I love the IT field, I'll be the first to say that it's often hard to get that first job. Many tech schools have a job placement department, and that can be one big plus in their favor.

What if you don't have that resource working for you? When you're breaking into any field, IT or not, you must not make the classic mistake of sending a ton of resumes and waiting for the phone to ring. The odds are that it won't.

You must get out and talk to people. The term "networking" doesn't just refer to allowing computers to talk to each other it also refers to people talking to each other. In your case, you've got to get out and meet people. Check the business section of your local newspaper. There will be dozens of networking meetings listed in there. It doesn't matter that you aren't in the field yet go to these meetings and meet people. Initiative is never a bad thing.

And once you get that first job, make it count. Show up on time and do what you say you'll do. If you don't know something, dig into Google and find the answer or ask a more knowledgeable colleague. (Just doing these few basic things will put you way ahead of the pack.)

Getting started in IT is as tough as breaking into any other field. Having worked in a few different jobs in my life, though, I can tell you this: No other field in the world rewards individual drive, initiative, and achievement like Information Technology. The fact that you have to work so hard to get in will make your eventual and unstoppable success just that much sweeter.

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!

Between Belief and Knowledge - Charles Kettering Was One of My Great Teachers

Knowing is not understanding. There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.

Charles F. Kettering

I came to know about Charles Franklin Kettering from a late night radio show that found me sitting in a scientific laboratory at Harvard University's School of Public Health. At the time I was the weekend supervisor of the Monkey Nursery there and worked from noon to midnight every Saturday and Sunday. I had dropped out of college in my junior year and had spent a few years working as an actor and a carpenter before I found this job which I took initially because it interested me and would allow me copious free time during the week. It soon inspired me to return to school and pursue a degree in Anthropology.

I was in charge of the infant monkey nursery, surrounded by rooms full of baby monkeys. There were certain times during my twelve-hour shift when I would have some free time to study, listen to the radio or read. On Sunday night there was a radio show produced at Wayne State University in Detroit and re-broadcast by one of the Boston area college stations that I always checked in with to see what was on. There were only a dozen or so programs in the series and they would repeat them over and over to fill the time slot. Nine of the programs were pretty standard educational fare and I don't remember them at all. The other three changed my life in a fundamental way.

These were actually antique recordings of an address that Kettering had given at some commemoration or dedication ceremony toward the end of his career. He was then one of the few surviving members of a group of entrepreneurs and inventors that changed life for all of humanity in the latter part of the industrial revolution. Here was a man who was responsible for the electric cash register, the diesel locomotive engine, the electric starter for the automobile, safety glass and probably the most profoundly influential of them all, the discovery of Freon gas for refrigeration and air-conditioning. This great technologist spoke mostly not of moving industry and wielding power but of making people's mind grow by paying attention to their hearts.

He told the story of his first professional job as a recent college graduate. He was schoolmaster in a turn-of-the-century one room school house. One of his youngest pupils was a first grader who had already had a difficult experience in school. Although she was obviously bright and could already read at a high level for her age, she could only do it with the book held upside down. Her previous teacher had insisted that she learn to read the "right way" and refused to let her read upside down. Luckily she kept reading and only learned to hate the teacher.

When Kettering came on the scene he sized the situation up in much the same way he approached all of the other problems that he solved in mechanics. chemistry and electronics. First he understood the whole problem. It turned out that the little girl had spent many hours with her grandmother who was unable to hold the little girl on her lap and read to her in a more standard way so she would read to her by placing a book on a stool in between two chairs that faced each other and would read to her as the girl looked on upside down. Kettering knew from this that the girl was smart and motivated and could adapt to any condition. He hit on a plan that worked perfectly with no emotional damage or condemnation of the child. He merely borrowed a music stand from someone in the community and placed her book upside down in front of her. Since when a book is mounted upside down this way, it is 180 degrees out of the usual reading position. Kettering then turned the music stand's music holder 5 degrees clockwise every Monday during the school year. As the year progressed, the girl found herself reading at 175 degrees out of the usual then 170 then 165 etc... By the end of the year she was reading just the way everyone else was and Kettering had done it without making her feel as though she was different, strange or wrong. He honored her as an individual at the same time he was correcting her because he followed his own admonition to understand the the problem deeply enough that the solution became obvious. This was an example, he said, of "letting the problem be the boss".

The trouble that most people get into when they run into a problem they have never experienced before, he explained was they immediately try to fit it into what they know. The more educated and expert the person the greater is that tendency. Kettering advanced the idea that true solutions to problems come not from trying to fit every question to the answers you already know but from meeting the problem on its own ground and letting it teach you what you need to know to understand it and solve it. Once, Kettering said, you let the problem be the boss and do not try to bend it to fit your small view of the world, you begin to grow in power and ability.

I was captivated listening to Kettering talk because he had clarity of expression that perfectly reflected the genius of his insight. He made you feel as though his understanding was your understanding. Somehow I felt that this very practical man was so clear and so pragmatic that he paradoxically was talking in a perfectly spiritual and transcendent way about these quintessentially down to earth matters. He offered a glimpse into the core of our relationship with the real world and because of this he was seeing too into very fiber of the order of the universe.

I looked forward to these programs and must have heard each one of them a half dozen times. I read as much as I could find about Kettering in the library too. I took him and his philosophies to heart and he became one of my life's heroes.

He was also an anti-authoritarian of the purest kind. Another story he told was about another speech he had given before an august assembly of academics. They had gathered to honor Kettering, Edison and a few other of the great inventors of that time. Kettering told how he had gotten up and explained to the academics that the kind of education they prized and awarded advanced degrees to was the antithesis of the kind of training that wqs needed to produce more innovators like the ones gathered there for honors. He related how his group of engineers had been struggling to find the right gas to serve as a refrigerant for a cooling system that GM had commissioned him to develop. They worked by their own methods for some time time with little success. Then Kettering took things into his own hands and told them to pack their things for a working retreat. Once there, he had them draw a graph of all the molecular formulae they had tried so far on the wall. The graph included the composition and the refrigerant properties of each gas. As they filled in the graph, it became apparent that there was one spot where all the properties of the other molecules seemed to converge to point toward the most efficient refrigerant. Kettering pointed this spot out and was immediately told by one of his sliderule wielding engineers that they had suspected that there was a molecule that would fit there for some time but that they had not tried to produce it because according to their calculations, the characteristics of the molecule would be unstable and unusable. Kettering insisted that they try it anyway and Freon gas was discovered. Freon served for many decades as the best refrigerant known. It made possible food preservation and shipping as we know it as well as air-conditioning and many medical and scientific research techniques that have saved and enriched un counted lives.

Kettering would often call meetings at which slide rules were strictly forbidden. He insisted on re-training all engineers with advanced degrees who came to work for him. He did this because he was the all-time professor of considering every possibility. He considered advanced degrees to be the warning signs of mental deficiency. After all, time after time, PhDs and engineers with advanced degrees had looked at his projects "logically" and told him that the things he proposed were "impossible". To Kettering, "Logic is a system whereby one may go wrong with confidence."

Kettering spent his life astride the no man's land between belief and knowledge. There is a prejudice today that knowledge and belief are mutually exclusive. He knew that they were much more powerful in combination and that the truth of things can most nearly be approached by using them together.

By far the most lasting and powerful thing I learned from those old lectures of Kettering's was his ability to acknowledge mystery and unpredictability while still having faith in an orderly and lawful universe. He, as did Newton and Einstein, knew that there was more to this Universe than any human can understand. His approach to problems was to learn what they had to teach him until they became solutions. As Kettering put it in his plain and firm way, "It is not what we know that is important, it is what we do not know."”

Jerome (Jerry) Gould is a writer and speaker who has a growing reputation for helping others to find and appreciate what is sacred in their lives and the world around them. He lives in Newton, Ma. with his wife and the two of his six children who are still at home. His blog http://alittlepileofseeds.blogspot.com/ is a popular source of inspiration and spiritual insight. His other web site http://home.comcast.net/~littlepileofseeds/ promotes his book which tells the story of how he recovered from a terrible childhood trauma to develop a powerful tool that others have used to recover from their own traumas.