Letter from Nokia CEO to employees

A brutally honest mail by the new CEO of Nokia, Stephen Elop, as leaked by Engadget on the eve of a major strategy briefing by the long-ailing company.

I think the letter speaks volumes about the attitude and intent of the chief exec. Never before in the last 2 years, has the company seen/shown such a candid admission of its faults. Having worked with the company for 2 yrs, I feel this bodes well, except of course Nokia decides to do something really stupid in its new strategy... This letter definitely shows the willingness to move away from Symbian and the possibility of a shift to a more attractive ecosystem for developers and users alike. Symbian has dropped to the 2nd most popular smartphone platform after Android overtook it last month. With smaller competitors like RIM and Samsung seeing their own platforms maturing, its not long before Symbian maybe relegated even below.

So shall we see Elop heading the Windows Phone 7 way or a more distinct possibility of an Android tie-up? Whatever it is, am sure the world is waiting for it with bated breath...

And personally, I hope it takes the brand and the company to even greater heights... :)

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Hello there,

There is a pertinent story about a man who was working on an oil platform in the North Sea. He woke up one night from a loud explosion, which suddenly set his entire oil platform on fire. In mere moments, he was surrounded by flames. Through the smoke and heat, he barely made his way out of the chaos to the platform's edge. When he looked down over the edge, all he could see were the dark, cold, foreboding Atlantic waters.

As the fire approached him, the man had mere seconds to react. He could stand on the platform, and inevitably be consumed by the burning flames. Or, he could plunge 30 meters in to the freezing waters. The man was standing upon a "burning platform," and he needed to make a choice.

He decided to jump. It was unexpected. In ordinary circumstances, the man would never consider plunging into icy waters. But these were not ordinary times - his platform was on fire. The man survived the fall and the waters. After he was rescued, he noted that a "burning platform" caused a radical change in his behaviour.

We too, are standing on a "burning platform," and we must decide how we are going to change our behaviour.

Over the past few months, I've shared with you what I've heard from our shareholders, operators, developers, suppliers and from you. Today, I'm going to share what I've learned and what I have come to believe.

I have learned that we are standing on a burning platform.

And, we have more than one explosion - we have multiple points of scorching heat that are fuelling a blazing fire around us.

For example, there is intense heat coming from our competitors, more rapidly than we ever expected. Apple disrupted the market by redefining the smartphone and attracting developers to a closed, but very powerful ecosystem.

In 2008, Apple's market share in the $300+ price range was 25 percent; by 2010 it escalated to 61 percent. They are enjoying a tremendous growth trajectory with a 78 percent earnings growth year over year in Q4 2010. Apple demonstrated that if designed well, consumers would buy a high-priced phone with a great experience and developers would build applications. They changed the game, and today, Apple owns the high-end range.

And then, there is Android. In about two years, Android created a platform that attracts application developers, service providers and hardware manufacturers. Android came in at the high-end, they are now winning the mid-range, and quickly they are going downstream to phones under €100. Google has become a gravitational force, drawing much of the industry's innovation to its core.

Let's not forget about the low-end price range. In 2008, MediaTek supplied complete reference designs for phone chipsets, which enabled manufacturers in the Shenzhen region of China to produce phones at an unbelievable pace. By some accounts, this ecosystem now produces more than one third of the phones sold globally - taking share from us in emerging markets.

While competitors poured flames on our market share, what happened at Nokia? We fell behind, we missed big trends, and we lost time. At that time, we thought we were making the right decisions; but, with the benefit of hindsight, we now find ourselves years behind.

The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don't have a product that is close to their experience. Android came on the scene just over 2 years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable.

We have some brilliant sources of innovation inside Nokia, but we are not bringing it to market fast enough. We thought MeeGo would be a platform for winning high-end smartphones. However, at this rate, by the end of 2011, we might have only one MeeGo product in the market.

At the midrange, we have Symbian. It has proven to be non-competitive in leading markets like North America. Additionally, Symbian is proving to be an increasingly difficult environment in which to develop to meet the continuously expanding consumer requirements, leading to slowness in product development and also creating a disadvantage when we seek to take advantage of new hardware platforms. As a result, if we continue like before, we will get further and further behind, while our competitors advance further and further ahead.

At the lower-end price range, Chinese OEMs are cranking out a device much faster than, as one Nokia employee said only partially in jest, "the time that it takes us to polish a PowerPoint presentation." They are fast, they are cheap, and they are challenging us.

And the truly perplexing aspect is that we're not even fighting with the right weapons. We are still too often trying to approach each price range on a device-to-device basis.

The battle of devices has now become a war of ecosystems, where ecosystems include not only the hardware and software of the device, but developers, applications, ecommerce, advertising, search, social applications, location-based services, unified communications and many other things. Our competitors aren't taking our market share with devices; they are taking our market share with an entire ecosystem. This means we're going to have to decide how we either build, catalyse or join an ecosystem.

This is one of the decisions we need to make. In the meantime, we've lost market share, we've lost mind share and we've lost time.

On Tuesday, Standard & Poor's informed that they will put our A long term and A-1 short term ratings on negative credit watch. This is a similar rating action to the one that Moody's took last week. Basically it means that during the next few weeks they will make an analysis of Nokia, and decide on a possible credit rating downgrade. Why are these credit agencies contemplating these changes? Because they are concerned about our competitiveness.

Consumer preference for Nokia declined worldwide. In the UK, our brand preference has slipped to 20 percent, which is 8 percent lower than last year. That means only 1 out of 5 people in the UK prefer Nokia to other brands. It's also down in the other markets, which are traditionally our strongholds: Russia, Germany, Indonesia, UAE, and on and on and on.

How did we get to this point? Why did we fall behind when the world around us evolved?

This is what I have been trying to understand. I believe at least some of it has been due to our attitude inside Nokia. We poured gasoline on our own burning platform. I believe we have lacked accountability and leadership to align and direct the company through these disruptive times. We had a series of misses. We haven't been delivering innovation fast enough. We're not collaborating internally.

Nokia, our platform is burning.

We are working on a path forward -- a path to rebuild our market leadership. When we share the new strategy on February 11, it will be a huge effort to transform our company. But, I believe that together, we can face the challenges ahead of us. Together, we can choose to define our future.

The burning platform, upon which the man found himself, caused the man to shift his behaviour, and take a bold and brave step into an uncertain future. He was able to tell his story. Now, we have a great opportunity to do the same.

Stephen.

Housewives want pay for being housewives :)

Now this is the height of socialism :) In communism-affected (had to use it like a derogatory word), housewives demand pay from the government for doing their house duties. And the reason is, it helps nation building... No doubt abt it, that theirs are one of the most important roles in mankind... but forming a union to demand pay... isn't it a shame and disgrace to their role actually?

For more, refer http://www.rediff.com/money/2009/mar/09kerala-housewives-demand-pay-from-govt.htm

An interesting article on the AdClub Bombay website...It talks about Moments of Truth for a product or service...
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Moments of Truth are defined as those touch points in an organisation where the customer interacts directly with the firm. These are the moments when the customers come in direct contact with the company. The interaction can be with a man or a machine. The touch points are critical because these are when the customer decides whether to continue or terminate the relationship.

The concept of Moments of Truth has a wide application in the marketing of services. Since services involve close and frequent interaction between the consumer and the service provider, managing these moments acquires strategic importance. The moments when the salesperson visits the customer or the consumer visits the office are opportunities to create an impression and build a relationship.

Identify Moments of Truth

The first step in managing these critical touch points is to identify the points where the company comes in contact with the customer. Kingfisher Airlines had the wisdom to understand that one of the first interactions between the Airlines and the customer comes when the customer reaches the airport. This moment was often neglected by most airlines. Kingfisher capitalised on this Moment of Truth by introducing ushers to welcome travellers and direct them to the boarding counters. This small step had a huge positive impact on the customer service perception for Kingfisher Airlines.

Organisations often fail to identify these interaction points correctly which often results in a negative customer experience. Hence it is important for all firms to identify and map their customer touch points so that the points can be made an opportunity to make an impact on the consumer.

For example, most firms think that the first touch point for a customer who is visiting an office is the front office personnel. In reality however, the first touch point is the security personnel at the gate. One of my colleagues discontinued his relationship with his car service centre because of the raw deal given to him by the security staff.

While the front office personnel are trained, security staff are often outsourced and may or may not be trained in customer service. Smart companies train these personnel in effective customer service behaviour because they recognise that first impressions are critical.

Hence it is important for firms to have a service map which gives the marketer an idea of the instances where the consumer tries to interact with the firm. Once these instances have been mapped, the marketer will be able to come up with strategies to create an impact during these moments.

Create Moments of Truths

While service organisations have a constant interaction with their customers, product companies may not have any direct interaction. A soap marketer, for example, may not directly interact with the end consumer at all.

In the highly insightful book “The Game Changer”, the CEO of P&G - AG Lafley identifies two Moments of Truth for product consumers. The first Moment of Truth is when the consumer goes to the retail store to purchase the product and the second Moment of Truth is when the consumer uses the product. The product marketers should make sure that they make a positive impression on the consumer at both these critical points.

However, marketers should not refrain from creating new touch points with the consumer. Brands like Sunsilk have taken the initiative to make a direct connection with the consumer by building a community – Sunsilk Gang of Girls. TVS and Maruti Suzuki have tried to connect with the consumer by opening driving schools for their consumers. Fastrack is constantly communicating with its consumers through social networking platforms like Twitter.

The Internet has opened up a new platform for marketers to create and manage new Moments of Truth. Although Internet penetration is low in India, it nevertheless produces a platform for meeting consumers who are often the early adopters. Blogs, Twitter and social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook offer an opportunity for marketers to create a community and thus understand the pulse of the market.

People are the key

People are the key to managing Moments of Truth. Whether it be the front office personnel meeting the consumer who visits the office or the sales personnel visiting the customer, people form the most critical media through which the impression is made. It is important for people across different levels in the organisation to understand that they have a role to play in managing these interactions.

In his book on customer service entitled “Hug Your Customers”, author Jack Mitchell talks about the importance of involving every member of the organisation in meeting and interacting with the consumer. Jack Mitchell is the CEO of premium clothing company Mitchells & Richards which is well known for its extraordinary customer service. In Mitchells & Richards, every member of the firm from the CEO to the Accountant interacts with the consumers so that the concept of customer service excellence runs through the entire organisation.

Encourage interaction

"The customer (client) is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is a part of it. We are not doing him/her a favour by serving him/her. He is doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to do so."

- Mahatma Gandhi

This famous quote is seen displayed in many offices but seldom have we undertaken the activities in the true spirit of this famous saying.

The critical questions that should be asked by firms in managing customer interactions are: -

• How easy is it for the customer to contact you?
• How fast will his query be answered?
• Is there a mechanism for measuring his satisfaction?
• Do we reach out to him or wait for him to contact us?
• Do we divide our customers into large and small or do we have a culture that treats customers as equal?
• We have a promotions budget, expenses budget etc. Do we have a consumer relationship budget?
• Are our staff given sufficient authority and responsibility to make customer interactions fruitful?

Managing 'Moments of Truth' is an expensive initiative, the fruits of which will be only visible in the long term. But the investment is worth it.

Anger vs. Love - Interesting Take

Nice one... profound wala hai :)
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A saint asked his disciples, 'Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?'

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'
'But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint. 'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?' Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the saint.

Finally he explained, 'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'

Then the saint asked, 'What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small...'

The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'

MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.

Innovative Marketing - FORD

Just came across this article involving a very risky yet pretty interesting marketing strategy by Ford. To quote the article, it "tests the limits of social media branding".

To promote the new Fiesta, Ford will hand over new cars to 100 youngsters from various social & economical strata and they will document their experiences through various social media. Ford has taken a HUGE risk here since they will have no control over what the recipients post (for 6 months). Social media being soaked in so much and so fast, one of the biggest brands in the world faces a danger of becoming a social pariah. Moreover, the Fiesta as a model is well-accepted and well-entrenched in people's minds.

For 6 months, having no control over what consumers write about you and that being your only contact with your audience - is it stupidity? No, I don't think so. With GM facing inevitable bankruptcy, Toyota making its 1st quarterly loss in years and Ford itself in danger of becoming irrelevant in its own bastion, the US, this experiment could provide a fresh lease of life and build a connect with the youth. With people, who do not even consider the car or the brand. And, no car company is a clear favourite among the twenty-something-just-started-working population. PLUS, you build the brand globally. Social media knows no geographical scope and is the cheapest and most endearing form of communication. The step by Ford is extending to digital marketing by making the consumers the advertisers. Creatives, choice of media vehicle - everything is now upto the consumer... Empowerment at the greatest.

Seeding, as you can call this phenomenon, has been around for a while. Gadget companies do it with bloggers, FMCG companies or service providers have done it with opinion leaders in the past. And these days, it is these tech-savvy no-nonsense demographic that is the clear opinion leader, and globally influencing too.

The flip-side though is when the car itself is not that great. As the article points out, Chevy has suffered in the past. But I do not think Ford would have embarked on this journey if it wasn't sure of a winner. I also feel the responsibility given to the consumer will make sure no frivolity seeps into the whole idea.

So get ready to see videos, pictures, blogs, tweets and status updates about the new Ford Fiesta soon. It sure is a bold step and will open up newer frontiers and avenues. Kudos to Ford!

The Linea

I am sure most guys love cars... Like a normal guy, was hoping to have a decent choice buying my next car. With a limited budget, always thought that Suzuki Swift would be the only option. And then, the Fiat Linea was launched.

Have always loved the Fiat Palio from day one. But its after-sales service, build quality, mileage etc. were issues which didn't make for intelligent buying. But I was in love with Fiat cars for sure. When the Linea was launched, the words for me were sexy, stunning, amazing, beautiful and WOW!
Moreover after seeing every publication, car enthusiast, critic, TV show going ga-ga and proving that finally Fiat had got it right, I am just tempted every day by the thought of buying one. Its over-budget for me for sure, but then the answer to that is wait for the 'Grande Punto' which will be competing with the likes of the Swift and the Fabia. It can't be bad at all after the Linea. Also, it just doesn't help that my neighbour has a shiny black Linea outside my door and I pass it every day :(

And the punchline - "Admiration Guaranteed..." is bang-on. Look at this video and I guarantee you'll fall in love with the car. The video is aptly titled "Fiat Linea fascination" ;)
Go droool...




More on the Linea at what it can make you do. Look at the ad below:

Fresh Ho Jaao

Am in love with this ad... Somehow all of Limca's and Liril's ads have stuck with the freshness theme but they do manage to get creative...

This ad also has a 2 min song (and video). Its simple, yet have to say FRESH :)
Something to do with the tune, the lyrics, the treatment... can't say. But the overall effect I get is refreshing.

The lyrics are also quite meaningful... exhorting you to break the rut in your life and break out once in a while...
“Fuhaarein, bochharein, nazaaare chura lo na, kuch boondein chura lo na; Thaki si zindagi se, ruki si zindagi se, kuch lamhe chura lo na…;
Kuch yaddein, aur sapne, apne chura lo na; Ruki si zindagi se, thaki si zindagi se, raftaarein chura lo na…”

Nails in the fence...

A forward I keep forgetting to implement in my life...

NAILS IN THE FENCE

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, 'You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same.

When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. But It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound will still be there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

Have been a really lazy blogger...been ages since I last added any post. Wanted to write so much about so many things, but guess its all in the past.

There's been a new addition to the blogosphere, and what a personality - Mr. Amitabh Bachchan as most of you would be knowing has started his very own blog on bigadda.com (the URL is http://blogs.bigadda.com/ab ). Now, if such a busy man could write regularly, I am sure I too can spare a few precious minutes of my useless life (at the moment, I am just waiting for my job to start, doing nothing at all...)

Hope to spend more time blogging and saying things which made or broke my day, which affected me in any way or just plain crap about life.

Adios!!!

Something I was...

Love this song...Kisi Ki Muskurahaton Pe Ho Nisaar from the film Anari (1959) by Raj Kapoor. Always wanted to be such a person. Alas, as time flew realised quite the contrary.

Can we actually be so nice...I want to be. Being nasty or rude or scheming isn't me. I would rather be innocent (alas...) and honest and caring. Infact I was caring, really really caring. But not for long...

Without boring you further...here's the video of the song...sung beautifully by Mukesh for Raj Kapoor

Priorities in Life

An interesting anecdote I came across sometime back...
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A professor stood before his Philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full.

The students responded with a unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life."

"The golf balls are the important things - your God, family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favourite passions - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. "

"The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else--the small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life."

"If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.
Play another 18.
There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.
Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter.
Set your priorities."
"The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.
The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.

"It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a cup of coffee with a friend."

Questions galore...

This blog was written by me at CNN-IBN blogs on http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/author/1388/2722/gujaratblogs.html

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Until the elections actually got over and I got around arguing with some friends why Narendra Modi aka "NaMo" should or should not be voted for, I actually never thought from the other side.

It goes this way. On a freezing Monday night, at Lucknow, sitting around a bonfire, I overheard some discussion about the Gujarat elections. Being known for my staunch anti-Modi comments, I naturally made myself part of the discussion. The group of 5 (plus 1-2 floaters) soon started on why or why not Modi?

Like most anti-riot supporters, my thoughts started and ended on one thought - that Modi aided the mass genocide post-Godhra and how all his positives cannot take that stain off him. The pro-Modi classmate of mine asked me one simple question: "Why did thousands of people come out and actually rallied against the Muslims? Is allowing riots to happen enough to actually make those Hindus come out in the open, to go and make them kill?" My answer remained the same, that it is in the innate self that every human being should find the answer. Every stone does not have to be answered with a brick. But the apparent, simple yet shocking truth behind his subsequent words actually had me hestitating for a reply. He asked me that "ofcourse there was this hatred inside those men, maybe not all, but atleast 80% of them, that drove them to riot. That decades of communal violence, killing of their families, neighbours etc had rooted deep inside them, a rage, that boiled over post-Godhra."

Not that he justified what happened, nor am I doing the same, but why this hatred? Or what is the solution to the ghettoisation that has happened in most corners of the country? How do we remove this hatred? Is minority appeasement actually benefitting us? Suddenly, there were no clear answers, atleast not practically.

Though we anti-Modi guys managed to make them concede their initial point and accept that as the responsibility of the state, and as an elected leader, Modi was wrong in allowing the riots. But the questions continue to linger. Is it enough to say that he is wrong? And that Congress leaders in 1984 also were wrong? Its too idealistic to say that ok, we should not kill in response to a killing. Apparently, and obviously, human emotions in these cases are too fragile.

Our politicians, cutting across party lines have been using the communal card for their vested benefits since a long time. Either in the form of Hindutva, or minority appeasement, the society has always been taken for a ride.

Ideally, yes, Modi should be punished. Yes, but after that what are the steps we take to make us Indians take as much pride in our social and communal fabric too as we take in our economic progress or our cultural richness. Anyone out there with an answer?

Yaaron...

One of the loveliest songs on friendship and love to have comeo out of the Bollywood music studios...Everytime I hear this, I feel so incapable of ever managing to offer a friendship as mentioned in the lyrics.

Kudos to KK for this song as well as one of my other favourites, Pal!

Cairn Energy to name its oil field after Ash

An ode to my everlasting admiration for Ash...

A report on hindustantimes.com:

Aishwarya Rai is a living goddess for the Cairn Energy, which has so far named its oilfields after Indian goddesses, the ones that are worshipped by millions.

The Scottish oil and gas company, led by the former rugby International Bill Gammell had named the field that transformed the company from a minnow into a FTSE 100 giant, Mangala. Another field is called Vandana.

But now a field is to be called Aishwarya. Cairn told a royal exchange commentator that the idea followed an impromptu meeting at 30000 feet. That is when a group of Cairn Energy executives saw and met Aishwarya Rai on a plane. They thought if so far they had been naming fields after mythological goddesses why not name one after a "living goddess".

So, now Aishwarya Rai is immortalised in "oil". So far she was a "legend" in wax (at Madame Tussaud's).