IT cos: Attrition alarm

For years, the BPO sector, the poster boy of India's IT sector, has been fighting to keep its flock together. But with attrition rates touching 30-60 per cent, it has become a major roadblock for a sector that is pegged to grow at 35 per cent. Now many top ITeS companies have devised an early warning system (EWS) to track employee behaviour and predict their likelihood of leaving. Identifying the employee is just the beginning, the HR has to then work out solutions for every possible employee on the verge of quitting.

Infosys

Infosys BPO calls it `Attrition Forecasting'. “It's an IT-based system which identifies 50 triggers that may lead to an employee leaving,” says Nandita Gurjar, group head, HR, Infosys Technologies. The software tracks their behaviour and shows events such as fluctuating productivity, increased absenteeism, rejections for internal job postings, drop in call quality, increased off-phone time et al. Keeping these in mind, the team leaders then enter qualitative information on a weekly basis after meeting each agent. The data indicates the agent's likeliness to leave with a red, amber or green indicator. Red means the employee is likely to quit within 30 days, amber indicates he is at a risk of quitting, and green shows he's satisfied. Gurjar says EWS system has helped Infosys BPO bring down attrition considerably. "However, such tools will not be effective unless an emotional touch is added to it. The management needs to bond with their employees emotionally. So we have a business HR team on every floor, which acts as a help and counselling desk where agents can discuss various issues." Besides, they have introduced the ‘Performance-based Scheduling programme', under this high-performers are given the chance to choose a work schedule of their choice. This motivates agents to work hard and also helps reduce the numbers that leave because of odd-working schedules.

Convergys

Convergys which employs over 70,000 people in over 75 centres around the world too has devised a EWS for controlling attrition. Masterminds at Convergys sat down and figured out about 50 distinct triggers, which could be as small as hygiene issues that lead to agent attrition. “We use proprietary software that tracks agent behaviour and indicates things like fluctuating productivity, absenteeism, and a myriad others indicators,” explains Tim Huiting, VP (HR) Asia, Convergys Corporation. The system has helped Convergys' contact centres reduce attrition by 15-25 per cent. The company has a ‘Team Leader Transformation' programme with an emphasis on training the team leaders to improve their people-management skills. "Agents with more effective managers have higher job satisfaction, and are less likely to leave,” says Huiting.

Genpact

At Genpact, employees have to go through a mandatory sessions with teamleader every month. “Teamleader assess the information and is able to identify a potential employee who may quit.” says Riju Vashisht, senior VP, HR, Genpact. "We have tailor-made solutions. Depending on what's bothering them, we offer them job rotation, job-enhancement, relocation, team building exercises, etc,” says Vashisht.

Wipro

Wipro BPO too has a system called People Pulse. The people tracker colour codes every Wipro employee - red, amber and green. Red means highly likely to leave. Amber is the middle zone, and green the ones who are most unlikely to leave. They are tracked all the time. The colour zone helps the company focus on them better. Those in the high-risk zone, red, are under constant watch. Any flipping on deadline, more leave applications and shirking of new projects are warning signals that the HR antenna promptly captures.

Telugu Dictionary 4 U

Here is a telugu dictionary for u which gives the meaning of some famous words used in Andhra side telugu which are not actually available in any dictionary known.

Doola 1. (n) surplus energy usage: vaadiki konchem doola ekkuva! 2. (adj) possessing surplus energy usage: vaadu oka doola gaadu! 3. (n) any activity aimed at venting out surplus energy usage: enduku vaadiki aa doola?

Thope: thope(n) 1)potugadu/potugatte Usage:vaadu picha thope

Dobbu :(verb): The act of undercurrent humiliation in the guise of cloyingly psychopathic praise. Usage: ippudu nuvvu nannu pogidaava? dobbava?..

Avidea 1) Idea ported to pakka South Indian village english. usage : orei nuvvu cheppina avidea valla nenu eeroju vaadi daggara nunchi thappinchukunnara.

Boku: (noun) A person who is considered good for nothing, but does things that are usually unusual.Found in large numbers between the age group 15-25 in big vilages,towns and even in cities. Root word: Poramboku. Usage: aado boku kadhu raa.. Related words:Gaali.

Bongu: (Interjection and Noun) A word expressed in disapproval of something,devoiding the other person, any chance of continuing the argument..... Usage: Char1: Adi ala ayyi undochhu kada... Char2: Bongu raa..ala ayye chance ledu.... Related words: tokka,bokka.

Sollu: (noun) 1) An unending saga of irrelevant gossiping, encompassing a plethora of topics like Cricket, Cinema, Politics, College, Gals, Boys and almost anything under the sun,barring Studies. Usage: aapandra babu mee sollu.. Related words: Sollugadu

Nee Enkamma: (interjection) 1)A word that used by most telugu ppl involuntarily esp. when irritated by somebody or something. Origin: Considered to be coined by brahmanandam in chitram bhalare vichitram. Related words: Nee yabba,nee ayya, …….

Racha cheyyi: (v) meaning: rechipoyi..petrigipo... usage: baboi..maama ikkada nuvvu levu kada..inka vaadu racha chesestunnadu.

Lite teesko: (v) Ignore every thing and chill out. Usage: enduku basu feel avutavu. Lite teesko.

Keka: (adj,interjection) Used to describe something toooooooooooooooo gud. Usage: kotha dressaa? Keka. Related words: Katti, arupu.

iPhone makes phones smarter

	Apple Inc's iPhone has shaken up the "smart phone" business and set other manufacturers scrambling to add features and make it easier to get e-mail, surf the Web and enjoy music and movies on a cell phone. Prices also have come down to the point where some of these feature-packed models cost little more than "dumb" phones. Sizes have come down too - gone are the days when carrying a smart phone was a workout. Here’s looking into some new phones that boast of `smart’ looks, features and applications.
Apple iPhone This is the star of the field, despite a number of shortcomings. Remarkably, Apple's very first phone succeeds at combining a phone with an iPod and a great Web browser. Its large, crisp screen, touch-screen user interface and multimedia abilities are unmatched. But good luck using it with any headphones but the ones that come with (unless you shell out more for an adapter), or getting work e-mail. The on-screen keyboard takes getting used to.
	Motorola Moto Q 9m This update to the Q has a good, wide keyboard but no touch screen. It runs Windows Mobile 6 which gives Moto more than the original Q, such as Microsoft Direct Push e-mail. At 4.6 x 2.6 x 0.5 inches and 4.8 ounces, the Moto Q 9m is just a little larger than the original. The Moto Q 9m offers a 2.4-inch, 320 x 240 pixel, 65,536 color display and the standard directional pad controls. There's 1.3 megapixel camera, with flash. However, users will need to turn the flash on manually every time they want to use it. The left side holds a microSD card slot. Moto Q 9m is supports 3G EV-DO data service. Its Bluetooth profiles include A2DP support for wireless stereo headsets.
Nokia N81 Nokia, the Finnish mobile handset maker expanded its N-series range in the Indian market. The slider-style N81 sports an 8 GB memory, a 2.4-inch QVGA display, quad-band EDGE and 2100 MHz HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 and a 3.5mm headphone jack. N81 comes pre-loaded with 10 English music videos, 10 best-selling Bollywood and Hollywood songs. N81 is built for music and gaming with a 3.5mm headphone jack and game keys. The Symbian S60 device will also work with Nokia's Ovi Internet brand, where users can download songs from the Nokia Music Store and games from the N-Gage service. The phone includes A2DP support for stereo Bluetooth, FM tuner, side-mounted dual stereo speakers. It also support number of file formats including MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, and M4A. N81 comes with RealPlayer onboard for full-screen video playback and video recording. The phone can be bought for Rs 26,000.
	HTC Touch Dual HTC has announced an updated model of their Touch mobile device. The new model has been named Touch Dual and it features a sliding keyboard to complement the existing on-screen version. The phone features HTC's TouchFLO technology (gesture-recognition technology). It would compliment the existing touch-screen features. The Windows Mobile 6 phone packs a 2-megapixel camera. This mobile device would ship with Windows Mobile 6.0 pro. As with Touch, users would be able to use enhanced finger touch scrolling and browsing of web pages. It has no Wi-Fi (like in the original) but comes with 3G. At 15.8mm it looks slim for a PDA-phone. Connectivity options in the Touch Dual include HSDPA, triband GSM with EDGE and Bluetooth.
BlackBerry Pearl2 Bharti Airtel and Research In Motion (RIM) have launched the new BlackBerry Pearl 8120 smartphone in India. BlackBerry Pearl 8120, also called Pearl 2, comes with a 2 megapixel digital camera that supports video capture, Wi-Fi connectivity support and an externally accessible memory slot. The smartphone sports a Titanium finish, and weighs about 91g. It packs a 2 megapixel digital camera with 5x digital zoom and enhanced flash that supports video capture in two resolutions (240 x 180/176 x 144) as well as Wi-Fi connectivity. The new BlackBerry sports an updated visual interface, and integrates a new font rendering technology. The browser offers a new 'Page View' option that displays full Web page on the screen along with a magnifying glass that allows the users to quickly and accurately point out to- and zoom-in on- specific areas. 8120 features trackball navigation system and SureType keyboard. The phone offers features such as: Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD); Bluetooth 2.0 support for hands-free use with headsets, car kits, and other Bluetooth peripherals; a low-distortion speaker phone and support for polyphonic, MP3, and MIDI ring tones. The Pearl 2 is available for Rs 24,990.
	Sony Ericsson W910i Sony Ericsson has launched its latest slim slider phone, the W910i, in India. The walkman phone comes with the company's new Shake Control system that allows users to change music tracks simply by waving the phone in the air. The W910i is a HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) 3G Walkman phone, which comes with a large 2.3-inch bright crystal 262,000 TFT screen and a 2 megapixel camera. The camera has a 2.5x digital zooming ability. There's also a feature called Photo Light that balances light/brightness of a specific scene to optimise the quality of a prospective image. Other phone features include audio books and Track ID for getting the artist and lyrics of the song; PLUS for accessing TV, movies, music, and more; and a USB Adapter that converts the 2GB card into a pen drive. Interestingly, according to online media reports, Orange and Sony Ericsson are recalling all W910i Walkman phones released on the Orange network in UK courtesy a technical glitch: they switch off 10 seconds into a call. The phone is available in two colours -- Hearty Red and Noble Black -- and will retail for around Rs 19,000.
LG-KS20 LG Electronics' Prada-successor, LG-KS20, goes on sale across Europe. The phone was unveiled in August at the consumer expo show IFA 2007 in Berlin. The LG-KS20 looks a lot like the recently-launched Apple handset thanks to a 2.8 inch touchscreen that dominates the front of the phone. LG-KS20 has a few features that aren't found on the first-generation iPhone: 3G (third generation) telephony and HSDPA data service at 3.6M bps (bits per second). Features include a browser, Wi-Fi, natural handwriting recognition, 128M bytes of internal memory, a Micro SD card slot and Bluetooth 2.0. There's also a 2 megapixel camera, FM radio and tri-band GSM (global system for mobile communications) support. The screen has QVGA resolution (320 pixels by 240 pixels). The device measures 99.8x58x12.8mm and the weighs in at just 92.5 g. The pricing details are not available yet. The phone uses an intuitive touch input technology and large LCD screen to maximise its Internet usability.
	Palm Centro The Centro does everything Palm's larger, more expensive Treo does, but in a cuter package. It has a small but sharp touch screen and a teeny hardware alphabetic keyboard. You need fingernails to type on it. It's not great as a music or video player, but it's good for e-mail, contacts and calendar management. Palm's software is the closest thing to the iPhone's in terms of ease of use and versatility, and there are tons of third-party applications. Comes with a neat Sudoku game.

Coming: Mobile Number Portability

After much dilly-dallying over an earlier Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommendation, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has finally decided to go ahead with mobile number portability (MNP) in the country.



Communications minister, A Raja, announced on Nov 12, 2007 that the government's approval of MPN, saying the system would initially be introduced in the four metros i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. Later, it would be extended to other parts of the country.



Mobile number portability essentially means mobile users can now switch mobile operators, without having to change their mobile numbers.



Surveys have shown a majority of the population to be dissatisfied with their existing service providers. Often, the only reason which has kept them from changing operators is the hitherto lack of number portability.



The inconvenience of having to change phone numbers on business cards and other documents, informing contacts of new numbers, etc, has prevented customers from switching to the service operator of their choice.



The introduction of mobile number portability is expected to change all that.



Besides, there are many who feel that the move will keep service providers on their toes, only translating into bigger benefits for customers at large. The thinking being; operators will remain from getting complacent, thanks to the competition, and will try all they can to keep their customers within their fold.



However, the kind of number portability currently introduced does not extend to being able to switch service types (from mobile- to fixed- line) or locations (say from Delhi to Kolkata and vice versa).



Not surprisingly, CDMA operators have welcomed DoT's move, while the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) that represents GSM players, is clearly not happy.



T V Ramachandran of the COAI even made a thinly-veiled reference to Reliance Communications (RComm), alleging that MPN seemed like it was being introduced to benefit a 'particular operator' seeking to enter the GSM segment.



Reliance Communications Chief, Anil Ambani, heartily lauded the move, calling it pro-competition, pro-consumer, and above all, pro-choice. He said, for the first time, operators in the four metros were going to face stiff competition.



From the industry point-of-view, MNP is expected to turn the market on its head, as it is very likely to hit bottom-lines of nearly all mobile operators. Operators might even be forced to introduce a series of incentives/schemes to tie-down their customers. Which means additional costs for them, nevertheless good for customers. On the flip side, customers might get confused with a rash of offerings (and a string of operators) to choose between.

Twenty-20 - World Cup Final Post match presentation interview between Shastri and winning captain Dhoni

This Is Ultimate



In the post-match presentation, Ravi Shastri to Dhoni

Ravi Shastri : "Congratulations to you and the whole Indian team for winning this world cup. You guys have produced a great nail baiting show.. and deserves the cup. We welcome you to share the joy with us."



Dhoni : "Thanks Ravi , the match was pretty close encounter between two great teams and our guys held the nerve to win the game and cup."



Shastri, "Who was the main reason for this thrilling victory?"



Dhoni, "All us played well but I would say the main reason and man behind this great victory is Ajit Agarkar"



Shocked Shastri..., "Agarkar ? ? .. how come
Agarkar... he didn't play in the final"..



Dhoni, "Yeaph.. that's the reason we won this low scoring match.. if he could have bowled in final, Pakistan would have scored the winning runs from his 4 overs...."



Shastri, "ok.. fine, To whom you want to thank for winning this final..."



Dhoni, "The team doctor deserves the credit... he really helped us to prepare for the final..."



Shastri, "Is it? ?.... how the doctor helped to prepare for the final... he is not the coach or physical trainer...Dhoni. . I am getting confused"



Dhoni, " Ravi ... nothing to confuse... he has failed Sehwag in the fitness test according to our game plan and we managed to pick a good playing team.. thus we weigh the doctor's contribution as very high... infact its better than our team effort in the field.. our game tactic worked well"



Shastri, "To whom you want to dedicate this World Cup?"



Dhoni, "The entire team including myself wants to dedicate this cup to Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly..."



Shastri, "I really really appreciate you... its good that you have so much respect to the seniors....and
you ....." Dhoni interrupts.. ..

.............................. .......... ............................

.............................. ........

" Ravi .. let me complete... India would have exited in the Group matches if they decided to play in the series... thank God they opted out and we managed to play cricket and won the cup.."



Shastri, "The match was thrilling encounter and was concluded by a single mistake of misbah.. Isn't it? "



Dhoni, "Yes you are right, after lofting the ball Misbah told me that he has send the ball to where there was no one....but he didn't know that there is a malayali in every corner of the world.... This single mistake has cost the game and won the cup..."



Shastri faints and Dhoni receives the CUP and thats the end of the great Twenty-20 world cup...