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Building Your Ideal Practice: What's in Your Work Model?
The credit card commercial asks:"What's in your wallet?"The message is that they want to save you from the ravages of high interest from other credit card companies.When I ask:"What's in your work model?"I want to save you from the ravages of having a job and living paycheck to paycheck.Work once - get paid onceIf you get paid per hour for what you do, you have a job. And in most cases, J-O-B stands for Just Over Broke.Even if you have a very high hourly fee, you still have a job and are trading time for money. In my private practice, my hourly fee is high enough to pay the bill and provide for a family of four people.That's the good news.The bad news is that I am still trading time for money and I'm limited by the number of hours I can put in. If I'm not there in my chair, I'm not making any income.Work once - get paid, get paid, get paid, paid, paidI like this work model a whole lot better.With a properly structured website you can have products that can be purchased while you are doing something else. For example, I have a set of article templates that help writers write articles quickly. I worked once to create it. Now I get paid, paid, paid, everyday when someone orders the templates.Whatever your business, whatever your area of expertise, you do have a choice:Work

enemy you break down your business and think about which part of the business you would like to do in India, which part you would like to sell to India, and which part you would like to buy from India.

Sending software, accounting, billing and any such work AND selling US products and services to India, is now possible for all of us. Whether you should do it, depends on your objective, growth, and need. Distance, communications, lack of information, and quality etc. should not be roadblocks anymore. You should choose your Indian partner diligently and audit them regularly.

About 60 percent of IT projects outsourced to offshore companies fail to meet the deadline and budget in comparison to moderate 23 percent of projects outsourced to local US companies.

Following are some pointers to improve your chances of success in working with India:

· Discover the best way to specify your services, software or business process
· Keep in touch with your outsourcing team without micromanaging
· Communicate directly with development team by email, instant messaging, and telephone.
· Treat the outsourced Indian team as part of your own team
· Require local leadership and entrust them with authority and responsibility

If you cannot do it yourself, use services of Pacview, Inc. with expertise and presence in both US and India to:

· Find the right outsourcing team that best fits your situation,
· Choose from more than a dozen proven expert teams in India categorized by skills,
· Cut your team search time by 90% - from months to just days,
· Cut your software development or BPO costs by up to 70%,
· Increase your customer base by 100% - from Bay Area to Bangalore.

About the Author

Mahesh Lalwani is Founder & CEO of Pacview, your partner in custom software & speech applications. Pacview has worked with dozens of Financial Services, Healthcare, and Computer Product Development companies, helping them create successful software applications that exceed customer’s expectations. Through Pacview’s expertise in design and development, and right-sourcing talent in US and India, our client

You're a Hard Worker, but Those Around You Are Not
Do you ever notice the unfortunate lack of hard work ethic? Do you see this problem at your own job? You are a hard worker and you know it, but those around you are not. It is good to see your hard work ethic, now can you honestly say that you are the norm?You see throughout my career as a human worker I have worked around the mining industry, oil industry, auto industry, trucking industry, rail industry and manufacturing industry and I have not seen what I believe to be the hard work ethic to the level I find appropriate for being in it to win it for the team or company. Oh I see people showing up on time, doing their work and making the motions. Yet I also see them often doing it at slow pace and even coaxing new workers and low-men on the totem pole to “slow down you are making us look bad” or “why are you in such a hurry, if we finish early, they’ll just give us more work to do!”And by my name I guess you can see where I am coming from if you do a search on the father of modern management and figured out that “Friedrich ‘Winslow’ Taylor” is in our family tree. I have always been under the belief that showing up and punching in is not the only requirement. Work hard and put in your fair share to keep your company healthy and productive. Think on this in 2006.

The experiences of the technology companies in the last few years who failed to navigate the rapid changes brought about in their marketplace by disruptive flattening forces may be a warning to all the businesses, institutions that are now facing these inevitable, even predictable, changes but lack the leadership, flexibility, and imagination to adapt - not because they are not smart or aware, but because the speed of change is simply overwhelming them.

The Internet now makes this whole world like one marketplace. This infrastructure is not only going to facilitate sourcing of work to the best price, best quality, from the best place, it is also going to enable a great amount of sharing of practices and knowledge, and it’s going to be ‘I can learn from you and you can learn from me’ like never before. It’s very good for the world. And India has emerged as back office hub for all kinds of services for the world.

Two thirds of Fortune 500 companies have setup offices in India for this reason. Most think of its 300 million-strong well-educated and ready-to-spend-more middleclass as an opportunity of our times. It’s a market to capture, and a talent pool to tap into. Big multinationals are moving forward in that direction and it gives them a competitive edge. A competitive edge you wish you had.

Well, it’s finally time to compete with the global leaders. Time has come for every business to benefit from a new trend in global economy. Partnering with India. The global economy is going to drive more integration (of India into it) and integration is going to drive the global economy.

PROFITS:
Let’s begin with why it makes sense to work with India:

Quality
It used to be that work would go wherever cheapest labor is available. That is not the case with India. Sure, it’s cheaper than here but not the cheapest. More and more work is going to India because it provides good quality services at competitive rates. Thanks to the dot-com-bust, more and more companies in India are learning that quality brings return business. And there are plenty of clients who would outsource every aspect of their business that can be done remotely. Vast English speaking population sees outsourced jobs as gateway to better life. They come to work every day (and night to synchronize with us here) with such enthusiasm not seen for that type of work and reward anywhere else.

The drive for quality also brings Indians to US companies for products and services for their needs. If Dell, GM, Microsoft, and Citibank have benefited over past several years, I bet you will find clients keenly interested in your expertise now.

Quick Proof of Concept
So, you are excited to be working on innovative new technology but have a shoestring budget to create a prototype. Welcome to outsourcing to India. Getting prototype done in India gives you a chance to evaluate the Indian partner without loosing your shirt. If you get next round of funding, you already know whether to continue working with same company or look for a better partner.

Routine & Maintenance Work
To maintain legacy applications you have tried hiring consultants here and the one who lasted longest was with you for 6 months. It’s not worth the effort anymore. Most Indian companies would compete for your routine maintenance work for long-term and do it more efficiently and effectively for far less money. And remember since it uplifts their standards of living, they do it passionately.

Productivity
If you find the right company to outsource your work to, you can focus your own resources on doing more of what you do better and stay lean. Your Indian partner can surprise you by doing more than just what you originally thought was possible to do remotely. Most of the time outsourcing increases your own productivity, increases sales, and increases customer satisfaction and loyalty. It builds value.

The other side of productivity coin is ramping up demand for leadership skills building, mentoring, and management consulting within Indian companies. Concepts nurtured and mastered by the US companies command high price from their counterparts.

Quick ROI & Cost Savings
If it weren’t for saving big money for investors and stakeholders, businesses would still be dealing with labor associations on pay hikes for things that can be done at a fraction of the cost outside. The cost benefits of sending work to India can range from 20% to astonishing 70% sometimes. In all cases it’s the quickest route to ROI and that should convince your CFO to start asking why aren’t we doing it.

PITFALLS:
Are you thinking everyone else is doing it and I should too? Sure. Like each new wave, just take some time to see if it’s really for you. Study all your options, do market research for services you plan to offer. Evaluate your Indian partner, and measure performance if you plan to avail their services. Here’s is list of things that can; and do; go wrong:

Privacy
There is very little privacy in life of an average Indian. It is very common for people to ask each other salary they make and everything else that is not asked out of courtesy in the USA. If people do not worry too much giving such personal information, Corporations can hardly ensure privacy of your consumer data because companies are run by people.

Educating everyone involved and setting-up formal processes for handling sensitive information are keys to eliminate risks surrounding privacy. Learn to politely say ‘No’ few times a day if asked for information that you are not comfortable divulging.

Overhead
Geographically India is farthest from us, twelve time zones away. When we are looking forward to a good start on any day they are tired of that day and simply retiring and vice-versa. When you find out something important during middle of the day here, they are probably dreaming about your finding (its middle of the night there) or having nightmares. You may have to wait to share it with the team in India.

If they have a question on your specification, you would prefer they send you an email instead of calling you when you are fast asleep. We all loose some time and productivity due to this overhead.

Face-to-face meetings are sometimes required to build team dynamics, but a daunting 20-hour flight followed by 5-day jetlag is definitely overhead. Best is to entrust them with responsibility and never micromanage.

Honesty
When you say a simple word ‘couple’ you mean exactly two, in India it’s open to interpretations. When someone says a couple of our engineers are working on your problem it means some, it could be 2 or 3 or more. When you hire someone on hourly basis, it is hard to validate the number of hours or number of consultants they bill you for. A company can claim that researchers on their team have PhD degrees, you will never know where from and how many really know about their company's claim. Some small businesses in India will have their employees fabricate qualifications, numbers or experience when asked by client. An art mastered by Enron.

It is highly recommended to select a proven partner and check references from past clients. Getting agreements reviewed by a local attorney, and alerting concerned parties on non-compliance as soon as they occur reduce risk of failure.

Quality
If the company you are working with oversold you on the benefits or is unable to retain the key employees and cannot deliver, what you get is low quality work and a place back to square one. Poor quality of products and services delivered is cited the main reasons why clients in the USA change the vendor or supplier in India often.

Just to avoid the last minute surprises, you should start small. First get a small feature done in a few weeks and verify the quality of work done before outsourcing everything.

Accountability
If responsibility can be dodged, it will be. Well, in most cases. When arriving on time for a meeting is not considered very important, deadlines will come and go. Most Indian consulting company’s executives have had experience working in the USA, but working bee does not. Dog ate my homework still rules for young fresher out of college.

You can specify the release date or you can specify what features are to be in a release. It is hard to do both and get a reliable commitment. Release dates are most reliable if people who will work on them also estimate them.

CONCLUSION:
India is a threat, India is a customer, and India is an opportunity. You have to internalize India to succeed. You cannot ignore it. Instead of competing with India as an enemy you break down your business and think about which part of the business you would like to do in India, which part you would like to sell to India, and which part you would like to buy from India.

About 60 percent of IT projects outsourced to offshore companies fail to meet the deadline and budget in comparison to moderate 23 percent of projects outsourced to local US companies.

Following are some pointers to improve your chances of success in working with India:

If you cannot do it yourself, use services of Pacview, Inc. with expertise and presence in both US and India to:

About the Author

Exhibition Gifts As Prizes
It can be really difficult to get people to stop at you booth at an exhibition, especially if you don’t have fun give-away items. This is where exhibition gifts come in. There are literally hundreds of different exhibition gifts that you can consider purchasing for your company to use, but in the end, none of these gifts matter much if you don’t get the chance to talk to the exhibition-goers about your company’s product or service. In order to draw people into your booth, consider giving away the exhibition gifts as prizes.There are a number of ways in which you can have prizes are your exhibition booth or table. These games are fun, and as the person pauses to play, you can do your sales pitch. Wheels are common, easy to build, and work beautifully. With this type of game, you ask exhibition-goers to spin a wheel, which will then land on a prize. As the wheel is spinning, you can talk about your company. You can also have variations on other carnival games as well. Be creative!Of course, never make your game too hard to win. Everyone should leave your booth with a prize, whether it be large or small, and every prize should have your company’s name and logo printed on it. If your game is too hard, the people will walk away with nothing more than your business card (which will likely be thrown in the next trashcan) and a sense of disappointment.However, give out exhib

otely. Vast English speaking population sees outsourced jobs as gateway to better life. They come to work every day (and night to synchronize with us here) with such enthusiasm not seen for that type of work and reward anywhere else.

If they have a question on your specification, you would prefer they send you an email instead of calling you when you are fast asleep. We all loose some time and productivity due to this overhead.

Just to avoid the last minute surprises, you should start small. First get a small feature done in a few weeks and verify the quality of work done before outsourcing everything.

About 60 percent of IT projects outsourced to offshore companies fail to meet the deadline and budget in comparison to moderate 23 percent of projects outsourced to local US companies.

Following are some pointers to improve your chances of success in working with India:

If you cannot do it yourself, use services of Pacview, Inc. with expertise and presence in both US and India to:

About the Author

Three Tricky Interview Styles - And How To Ace Them
In this day and age, as job competition has increased, interviewing techniques have also gotten tougher. Larger corporations often adopt multi-layered interview techniques from initial screening until the job offer stage.Interview Styles and How to Handle Them ConfidentlyThe need for different interview styles has evolved with the increasing complexities of jobs and work environments, as a scientific means to testing candidates.Behavioral InterviewThis style of interview uses the premise that past behavioral and performance history reveals enough indicators for a prediction of future performance. This type of interview can begin with concealed questions, such as asking you to narrate a tricky situation you have handled in the past. For example, "Please let us know your best accomplishment and how you were able to accomplish it." However, the questions will not necessarily be limited to your past. Look at this one: "If you had to purchase accounting software, how would you choose it?" This question aims at bringing out your software knowledge, as well as the decision making process that you may use.Case StudyA slightly refined technique within the behavioral interview is the case study style. Expect to encounter a real-life situation here. Something like "evaluate different accounting software as a precursor to purchase and im

es for things that can be done at a fraction of the cost outside. The cost benefits of sending work to India can range from 20% to astonishing 70% sometimes. In all cases it’s the quickest route to ROI and that should convince your CFO to start asking why aren’t we doing it.

If they have a question on your specification, you would prefer they send you an email instead of calling you when you are fast asleep. We all loose some time and productivity due to this overhead.

Just to avoid the last minute surprises, you should start small. First get a small feature done in a few weeks and verify the quality of work done before outsourcing everything.

About 60 percent of IT projects outsourced to offshore companies fail to meet the deadline and budget in comparison to moderate 23 percent of projects outsourced to local US companies.

Following are some pointers to improve your chances of success in working with India:

If you cannot do it yourself, use services of Pacview, Inc. with expertise and presence in both US and India to:

About the Author

Do You Have A Business Map?
If I suggested that you drive to a place you have not visited before, without a map or a clear set of directions, you would probably tell me it was a bad idea. Why? Because without one of these tools it is likely you would get lost, arrive late, or perhaps never arrive at all.It seems obvious, if you are not sure how to get to your destination, you need a map! And yet, every day I meet business owners who drive their businesses with no map nor a clear set of directions. The result – they get lost, fail to meet their objectives, or fail completely. As a small business owner, you need a business plan! Without it, you are traveling blind.Get Started Now!Do not put off writing your plan for someday, when you have the time. You will never have enough time, unless you make it. The busier you are, the more you need a plan to streamline your decision making process and automate your day-to-day operations.Building a plan does not have to be overwhelming or incredibly time consuming. Take the simplest approach to get started; you can always refine it along the way.Get your thoughts on paper, and then revise them. Too often people get stuck trying to make the first sentence perfect and never get to the second page. Do not let that happen to you! Do not get hung up on grammar or spelling. This first draft is for you. It does not have to be a Pulit

ouple’ you mean exactly two, in India it’s open to interpretations. When someone says a couple of our engineers are working on your problem it means some, it could be 2 or 3 or more. When you hire someone on hourly basis, it is hard to validate the number of hours or number of consultants they bill you for. A company can claim that researchers on their team have PhD degrees, you will never know where from and how many really know about their company's claim. Some small businesses in India will have their employees fabricate qualifications, numbers or experience when asked by client. An art mastered by Enron.

Just to avoid the last minute surprises, you should start small. First get a small feature done in a few weeks and verify the quality of work done before outsourcing everything.

About 60 percent of IT projects outsourced to offshore companies fail to meet the deadline and budget in comparison to moderate 23 percent of projects outsourced to local US companies.

Following are some pointers to improve your chances of success in working with India:

If you cannot do it yourself, use services of Pacview, Inc. with expertise and presence in both US and India to:

About the Author

Nice People and Employees in Your Business Makes the Difference
It has often been said that quality of products and service is the key to business success and for the most part it is indeed fact. Now then many marketing consultants say that; Nice People is the icing on the cake. In fact this is also true. You cannot train people to be nice, you have to hire nice people. You cannot increase someone’s pay and expect their attitude to change over night, it will not happen that easy.You see there are nice people, pleasant people and just great down to Earth People; then there are manipulators, BS’ers, complainers and ugly people too. Find good people and pay them what they are worth so they stay with your company. Nice people and employees in your business will make the difference.As a former franchising founder, I always found that I could not seem to re-train hostile people to be nice people, no matter how hard I tried. You have to find nice people and train them to do the job and promote them and pay them fairly.This is not to say that you can have lousy products or service, that too must be tops. Often I ask a trick question of my franchisee’s crews; What is more important Quality or Service? Some times they will attempt to answer with one or the other and then rationalize their answer. The true answer is both and when you throw in nice people, well that really is a slamdunk. Consider all this in 2006.

About 60 percent of IT projects outsourced to offshore companies fail to meet the deadline and budget in comparison to moderate 23 percent of projects outsourced to local US companies.

Following are some pointers to improve your chances of success in working with India:

If you cannot do it yourself, use services of Pacview, Inc. with expertise and presence in both US and India to:

About the Author

Note: You’re welcome to “reprint” this article as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the “About the Author” info at the end), and you sent a copy of your reprint to mlalwani@pacview.com

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Do you collect your customers email addresses? I doubt it. This is a huge mistake! Building an email list of your customers is very valuable. By staying in contact with your customers by email, or mailing to them, you build loyalty and you never let them forget you!

Do you ever stand in awe of those people who seem to know everybody and everything? I know I do! Regardless of what you're looking for, these people have their finger on the pulse of the 'Net and know where to find it. Their network of resources and people is incredible! Yours can be, too.

Everyone who has important information or a valuable skill should start giving workshops. There aren't enough workshops in the world to accommodate everyone. Just learn what mistakes to avoid so that your workshop is a success.

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