Dot Com Infoway, a Chennai-based IT solutions provider is to hire IT professionals, mobile developers and content executives from Bangalore as part of its business expansion plans for its two development centers in Tamilnadu.

Chennai-based leading software and mobile development company, Dot Com Infoway Ltd (DCI) is to hire experienced IT professionals and mobile application developers from Bangalore as a part of its business expansion plans this Saturday. The company, which hired a huge number of IT graduates last financial year, will hire more this year. This time, DCI has planned to conduct job interviews at Bangalore’s EVOMA Business Center on Saturday, April 17^th, 2010, for various positions at its development centers in Chennai and Madurai. DCI’s Job Fair is primarily to recruit iPhone Developers, Android Developers, BlackBerry Developers, Symbian Developers, IT Services Sales and Cold Calling Executives, Business Development Executives and Content Development Executives. Besides the recruitment, this drive will also help DCI to build their candidate databases for future recruitments.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. C R Venkatesh, CEO and Managing Director of Dot Com Infoway, indicated “The IT services and mobile development industry is slowly recovering after the recent economic slowdown. According to premier IT players in India, the IT industry is expected to witness a two-digit growth before the end of 2010. Companies like DCI are doling out wage hikes to retain their key talent and is hunting for new talents. And Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, is booming with experienced IT professionals. We hope that conducting a job fair at Bangalore can help us to find some of the best and seasoned IT professionals in the industry. We are committed to maintaining a favorable climate that encourages U.S. and other foreign clients and organizations to do business with us. Critical to this effort is having a huge number of English-speaking IT professionals base from which they can staff their services and operations. And we expect that, DCI’s Job fair at Bangalore, will be an extremely fruitful experience, which would help them in seizing a job with one of the fastest growing IT companies in India.”

Dot Com Infoway, has planned to hold its job fair on Saturday, April 17, 2010 at the EVOMA Business Center in Bangalore. The job fair will have openings for

Positions at Chennai Center:

iPhone Developers

Android Developers

Blackberry Developers

Symbian Developers

Positions at Madurai Center:

IT Service Sales/Cold Calling Executive

Business Development Executives

Content Development Executives

Job Fair location:

Dot Com Infoway

Suite #160, EVOMA Business Center

#14, Bhattarahalli,

Near Garden City College

Old Madras Road, K R Puram

Bangalore 560 049

Contact: 9677271133

About Dot Com Infoway:

Dot Com Infoway is a top Indian Information Technology Firm and a leader in Custom Software Development and Mobile Application Development. DCI is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company and CMMI level 3, multi-disciplined professional IT service firm. DCI is a Microsoft Gold Partner and Sun Associate Partner and a proud member of the prestigious NASSCOM and STPI. DCI has been consistently listed among the fastest growing companies in India and ranked as one of the top 5 mobile development companies in India. For more than a decade, DCI provides a full suite of information technology services to numerous small, mid-sized, enterprise class clients in Americas, Europe, Australia and far-east countries. DCI’s spectrum of services includes Custom Software Development, Mobile Application Development, Content Management Systems Development, e-Commerce solutions development and other complex software development projects, enhancing the business growth of its customers.

Press Information:
Dot Com Infoway

Plot No 3, Vaigai Colony II Floor
Anna Nagar,
Madurai – 625 020
Tamil Nadu
India

Phone: +91-452-2522257

Contact Person:
C.R Venkatesh
CEO
Phone: +91-452-2522257
eMail: info@dotcominfoway.com

Web: http://www.dotcominfoway.com

Isn’t timing interesting? Had the Cowboys given up 6 sacks, 34 points and 3 turnovers one week earlier, Phillips would almost certainly be gone. Instead, Jones is reportedly picking up his option for 2010. (Though stay tuned….they’re scheduled for a meeting this week.)

If Jones does dismiss Phillips, maybe he ought to consider hiring the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, Leslie Frazier. Fox producers and cameramen gave Frazier valuable publicity Sunday, and for good reason. The 50-year-old Frazier has interviewed for a host of coaching jobs, most notably Seattle’s, which led to debates about whether the league is sincerely enforcing the Rooney Rule.

But more than national TV face time and equal opportunity regulations, Frazier’s head coaching candidacy was boosted by his game plan Sunday. He got the better of the Cowboys’ $3-million-per-year assistant, Jason Garrett, who had crept back onto the map as a “hot, young head coaching candidate.”

Knowing Garrett’s Cowboys would be forced to slide their protection left against Pro Bowlers Jared Allen and Kevin Williams, Frazier went to defensive end Ray Edwards before the game and implored him to elevate his play. Going one-on-one against right tackle Marc Colombo, an athletic mismatch, Edwards recorded three first-half sacks, forced a fumble and destroyed a handful of running plays in the backfield.

The dominant performance of Kevin and Pat Williams, as well as first-round bust-turned journeyman-turned viable backup Jimmy Kennedy, rattled Dallas’s offensive rhythm and masked the limitations of Minnesota’s struggling rookie middle linebacker, Jasper Brinkley.

Frazier, a secondary specialist, surprised people by once again sliding banged-up cornerback Antoine Winfield into the slot. Winfield’s replacement starter, Benny Sapp, might have had his best game of the season; Cowboy wide receivers were held to six catches for 51 yards.

As a player, Frazier led the Super Bowl champion Bears defense with six interceptions in 1985. (He was part of the Super Bowl Shuffle.) He also earned a ring as Indianapolis’s secondary coach in 2006. Now, he finds himself one game from returning to the Super Bowl, and, perhaps, one game from becoming a head coach. Many consider him to be the leading candidate in Buffalo. He interviewed for the job two weeks ago, though N.F.L. rules prohibit the Bills from making further contact until after the N.F.C. title game.

EATING WITH THE ENEMY?

Ed Reed and Reggie Wayne may be the most prepared, fundamentally sound players at their respective positions. They’re also close friends and former roommates at the University of Miami who went out for dinner the night before their game Saturday. The two talk several times a week, and when the Colts visit Baltimore, Reed takes Wayne out to dinner.

Inter-team friendships are common in today’s peripatetically-driven N.F.L., but dinner the night before a playoff game might raise a few eyebrows. Especially when you’re talking about a wide receiver and the safety who often covers him.

Was the dinner necessary? After all, besides talking regularly, the two saw each other when the Ravens and Colts played in November. They’ll probably see each other in two weeks at the Pro Bowl in Miami. And, like most former Hurricanes, they’ll almost certainly cross paths in the off-season.

NORV TURNER’S ERROR

A lot of people are second-guessing Norv Turner’s decision to try an onside kick. That move is at least debatable. But Turner made another call – albeit a more subtle and less significant one – that has less room for wiggle.

On first-and-10 with 2:12 remaining, the Jets ran the ball for no gain. When the whistle blew at the 2:08 mark, Turner should have immediately called his final timeout. That would have forced the Jets to run another play, which would have ultimately made it third down at the 2:00 warning.

Instead, Turner held his timeout and allowed the final eight seconds to tick off. At the 2:00 warning, the Jets faced second down. Turner used his timeout after that second-down play, stopping the clock at 1:55. In short, San Diego lost five seconds. It’s a small amount, yes, but still, it’s an amount that probably would equate to an extra play had the Chargers gotten the ball back.

The only advantage Turner had by holding the timeout until after the 2:00 warning was, if the Jets had fumbled on the second-down run and San Diego had recovered, the Chargers would then have the ball and a timeout in their pocket. But the likelihood of that scenario is miniscule. Most coaches would rather have the guaranteed five seconds.

WHAT WE FORGET ABOUT THE JET AND COLT DEFENSES

The Jets and the Colts punched their tickets to the A.F.C. championship game behind dominant defensive performances this past weekend. What hasn’t been mentioned often lately is how both defenses have rebounded from losing a dominant player. The Jets lost Pro Bowl nose tackle Kris Jenkins to a knee injury in October. For the Colts, the former defensive player of the year Bob Sanders missed the start of the season with a bad knee, came back for two games, then went on IR with a torn biceps.

Replacements for the two have performed admirably. Jets nose tackle Sione Pouha, a fifth-year veteran with fairly limited experience, has not shown Jenkins’s ability to penetrate, but solid technique and leverage-induced strength have enabled him to hold ground against the run. Colts safety Melvin Bullitt has played well enough in Sanders’s absence to warrant a starting job in 2010, when he’ll be a restricted free agent. Like Pouha, Bullitt doesn’t possess the big-play flair of his predecessor. But fantastic speed and acute awareness have made him an important cog in Indy’s youthful secondary.

REGGIE BUSH

About once every two months, Reggie Bush puts on a show that reminds people he’s more than just Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend. Bush had one of those games Saturday. Running with an uncharacteristic downhill determination, he gained 84 yards on five carries, 46 of them on a dazzling touchdown that exhibited a blend of agility, elusiveness and speed matched only by Tennessee’s Chris Johnson. Bush also capitalized on Arizona’s third-quarter breakdown in punt coverage, taking Ben Graham’s kick 83 yards to paydirt (copyright James Brown).

Heading into the N.F.C. title game, Bush is now a player worth highlighting. Last time he faced Minnesota, he turned in one of the great Monday Night performances: two punt returns for touchdowns, and another for 29 yards in which he would have scored had he not tripped in the open field. This week, Bush goes up against a Vikings front seven that features callow middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley. Brinkley’s struggles in filling in for injured star E.J. Henderson have been primarily in the decision-making department. The fifth-round rookie can be slow to diagnose run and pass, and he’s liable to take false steps on misdirection plays. Not ideal weaknesses for a Mike ‘backer facing the versatile Bush and innovative Sean Payton.

FEELING KAEDING

Jets fans know Jay Feely as the man who pulled double duty punting and kicking in the wild-card round, and as the man who successfully booted a 46-yarder against San Diego on Sunday. But Giants fans know Feely as the man who once missed three potential game-winning field goals in a 2005 overtime loss against Seattle. After that game, Feely faced the New York media and told reporters what he’d said to his teammates in the locker room: “I said, ‘I’m sorry I let you down.’ People are going to say it’s a team game and they’re going to say the right things. But the fact of the matter is that you’ve got to come through when you have one opportunity — much less two good opportunities.”

After the Jets’ upset of the Chargers Sunday, Feely approached kicker Nate Kaeding, who had just missed three field goals and, thanks to a costly playoff miss against the Jets in ’05, cemented a reputation as a talented kicker who struggles in the postseason.

Like Feely in ’05, Kaeding stoically faced the media after the game and offered no excuses. “I’ve missed field goals before in games and been able to come back and execute the next one,” Kaeding said. “So that’s part of the deal. You’re not going to make them all. You’re charged with the responsibility of putting the ball through the uprights regardless of whether you made the last one or you missed it. I missed them all today.”

KURT WARNER, FUTURE HALL OF FAMER

Saturday’s loss at New Orleans could very well have been Kurt Warner’s final game. A few people questioned my reference to Warner as a “future Hall of Famer” in the live blog during that game. Here’s a quick explanation, in the form of a comparison:

Jim Kelly, Bills QB and current Hall of Famer: 11 years, 0-4 in Super Bowls, 222 yards passing per game, 84.4 career passer rating.

Kurt Warner, Cardinals/Rams/Giants: 12 years, 1-2 in Super Bowls, 261 yards passing per game, 93.7 career passer rating.

Kelly spearheaded a quasi-dynasty in Buffalo. Warner brought two different franchises from rags to riches. Their résumés are either a wash, or Warner’s is slightly better. Regardless, if Kelly is in Canton, Warner has to be.
(For a more in-depth statistical look at the comparison, see Luis DeLoureiro’s Fifth Down post last week.

PUNT, PASS AND KICK DYNASTY

Speaking of Jim Kelly….his nephew Chad Kelly has become a regular in the divisional round. During the Jets-Chargers game, Chad was honored as the winner of the 14-15-year-old division in the Punt Pass and Kick contest. For every Super Bowl his uncle lost, Chad has won a Punt Pass and Kick title. This year, Chad threw the ball 71 yards to secure his record fourth title. He’s enrolled at St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute and, reportedly, is already being recruited by his uncle’s alma mater, Miami, as well as Ohio State, Penn State and Florida.

QUICK HITS

• Dwight Freeney did not record a sack Saturday, but he manhandled the ailing Ravens left tackle Jared Gaither. Freeney anchored well against the run, registered four tackles, hit Joe Flacco twice and pressured him on a handful of other plays.

• Seven penalties for 64 yards didn’t cost Baltimore the game, but the flags still hurt. It was fitting, though. The Ravens were the most penalized team in football during the regular season.

• Of the three touchdown receptions for the Vikings’ third-year Pro Bowl receiver, Sidney Rice, No. 2 was the most impressive. Before making that wide-open catch, Rice had cut inside, dove to the ground and delivered a punishing chop-block – cleanly and legally – on DeMarcus Ware. Has any wide receiver in history ever put a superstar pass rusher on the ground AND caught a touchdown on the same play?

• Tony Romo was magical in December and into January. But against the Vikings, Romo had three fumbles (two of them lost), less than 200 yards passing and an interception on the type of throw a quarterback regrets the second the ball leaves his hand. Romo certainly isn’t solely to blame for Dallas’s blowout loss. And, despite the disappointing end, his late-season performance is not moot. But in a few months, once the details are forgotten and people remember only the 34-3 score, it will be interesting to see whether his reputation will really have changed.

• According to Peter King, the Chargers threw at Darrelle Revis only four times (on 45 dropbacks). Two were incomplete, one was complete for minus-four yards and the other was intercepted.

Typically serving as Board Member with Special Mandate, Mr. Amell drives change in a range of organizations from new venture companies to multibillion-dollar corporations in the areas of Financial, Manufacturing and Services. Mr. Amell’s approach focuses on building broad stakeholder consensus to affect profitable and sustainable structures in a firm’s operations. While most executives during tough times find themselves managing an environment laden with anxiety and heart wrenching decisions, Mr. Amell’s approach to restructuring reflects a deep belief that maximizing human capital and harnessing human ingenuity is the most effective means to steer organizations onto a new course.

Mr. Amell began his career at McKinsey-Scandinavia after graduating from the University of Stockholm with a degree in Marketing and he completed the Executive ISMP MBA Program at Harvard Business School. Prior to McKinsey, Mr. Amell served as an officer in the Swedish Navy. Born in Sweden and spending much of his childhood in South America, Mr. Amell is fluent in five languages and today lives on his farm in Northern New Jersey with his wife and five children.

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Avneesh is actively involved in social work in India and is building an NGO to uproot poverty.

Readit India team takes a dive into mind of this budding poet and philanthropist.

Kumar G. S: Tell us something about the Adhoori Muskaan.

Avneesh Gupta: “Adhoori Muskaan” is a collection of my poems written during the period 2002-2007, a period when I was experiencing the twists and turns of my life. There was nothing so different in my experiences from anybody else’s around me. But, the difference was that I decided to view them from a different perspective and pen them down. I saw people busy in their daily course of life. I just tried to portray a shade of everybody’s life including mine in a way a painter does with his brush.

Kumar GS: What motivated you to write this book?

Avneesh Gupta: To me, the question is same as “What motivates you to write the poems”. It is constant journey for me, days and nights, hours and minutes. My eyes haunt for characters, tales around. Initially, I started writing my own experiences in my personal diary during my childhood and early teenage. But, there was always an inclination towards expressing myself in fewer words. This finally turned into poetry writing. I never thought about writing a book. I was just expressing my feelings in different poems in my personal diary, it was all getting accumulated in my diary. When I was in my third year of my engineering degree, I was coordinating some literary activities in the annual fest ‘Utsav’ in my Institute. I was working tirelessly for that event. Just 3 days before the event could start, I woke up with a dream that I am inaugurating my first book on the same annual fest stage. That dream filled me with extreme ecstasy. I instantly borrowed some money from my friends and went to the nearest printing house. The printing press owner almost laughed at me at my childish act of getting 50 copies of the book ready in 3 days. But, I was mad. I almost had no sleep for 3 days. Finally, I was successful in printing, inaugurating my first book “Mujhe Manzilon Ki Talaash Hai” in those 3 days and in fact, sold out most of those 50 copies during the fest. I never stopped myself after that. In February 2008, I had to move to Canada for a long term assignment from IBM. I gave the script of the book to many publishing houses in Delhi before moving to Canada. Mr. Azim from General Press agreed upon publishing “Adhoori Muskan”. I am very much thankful to him. Interestingly, I could see the first copy of my book after 6 months of its release in Indian market.

Kumar GS: Does it have any inspirations from your personal life?

Avneesh Gupta: Of course, it has quite a bit. There are many reflections from my personal life in my poems. I grew up in a much disciplined environment. I was characteristically more influenced from my mother than anybody. It is she from whom I inherit the power of keenly observing personalities around from different perspectives. My hindi teacher “Zulfikar saheb” in Islamia College, Shahjahanpur encouraged me to participate and win speeches and debates at college level.

If you talk about inspirational characters in my life, basically my own failures were my inspirations. These prompted me to do better. There are several other characters who inspire me everyday like – a Rickshaw puller in my hometown who had five daughters, was working tirelessly day and night to get them married; a tea-seller at Hazratganj crossing in Lucknow, who is awake all night to prepare tea for outsider students in order to make a living for his family. Just a remembrance of such faces fills me with energy everyday. If they can do so much hard work with so much dedication then why can’t I, who doesn’t have to address even a part of the obligations they have to. At the level of thought processing, I put myself in such characters and try to live them. It makes me realize the real pain and agony of one’s life and therefore give me the true words for that feeling in return. It pinches me every time when I see something, which has emotions, feelings in it. An insatiate mind and heart prompts me to drench the thirst of my soul. Then, I just take out the piece of paper which is always there in my pocket and unburden my mind of those emotions through these verses. You might feel strange but I consider myself as a women, as a beggar, as a newborn, or as anything I may want to let myself feel. It involves a great observation and power of changing yourself to befit into other’s soul. You have to refrain from what you are and then, dissolve yourself into that character. Realize nothing but him.

Kumar GS: What are your future books?

Avneesh Gupta: These days, I am focusing much on social activities than just witnessing and writing the agony of the people. After years of writing, I felt that I can create more beautiful things than these verses by earning some real, genuine smiles on the faces of people. To realize it, I recently opened an NGO – AKSHAR (Activists for Knowledge Stimulated Harmony and Advancement in Rural areas). It aims at providing quality teaching experience to poverty-ridden children in Rural India. We recently opened our first school. We recently got in touch with “Azim Premji foundation” and obtained animation software from them to teach AKSHAR kids with the latest technology. Parallely, I am creating documentary videos to create awareness so that people, who are well off, could be motivated to donate a very small part of their earnings in making life of such kids better. In short, my dream is – ‘I want to see India at least 95% educated before I die’. The word ‘educated’ here does not refer to producing ‘Literates’, who can just make their signature or read and write, but they should be able to understand the world around with logical thinking. And I know that I am still not contributing even a millionth fraction to my dream, but I believe a similar million efforts out of a billion population can make this dream 100% possible.

Coming back to your question, though I am not focusing much on writing; But, Yes, I am planning for a few more books in future. One of them will portray different experiences of womanhood right from her birth till death. Other one is in English and is almost complete. It is based on social issues and poverty in India. I am revising its script these days. Though, I have slowed down my pace in writing to focus on other activities, but once the establishment of NGO is firm and self-sustainable, I will come back to writing in full pace.

Kumar GS: How do you manage time to write poetry from your job?

Avneesh Gupta: To tell you the truth, after an average of 8-9 hours of software engineering daily, you are mentally and physically exhausted and have almost no energy left with you to be creative or even doing anything on that day. But, then I have to stand up and give myself an extra push thinking that there is no ‘tomorrow’. Everyday, I have to imagine myself like a soldier who has to fight until his last drop and has no other option but to fight. I believe in effective and worth usage of every precious moment given to us by god. Many a times, it’s painful. But that’s called life!!

Kumar GS: Thank you Avneesh for sparing your precious time for this interview.

I Kumar GS, had a chance to share emails with Sunny Pokala via one of my PR hub contacts Priya M George, and got to sneak into the success mantra of Sunny and how he steered his company towards success.

Sunny Pokala

Kumar GS: Tell me something about the making of Amtex like your initial thoughts, dreams and journey.

Sunny Pokala: I left India to study in the US in 1993. During my early days in the US I used to work part time at various places, after graduation I worked at JP Morgan supporting their trading desk. I went back to school in the nights to complete MBA. While I was working at JP Morgan, I always used to feel the urge to move away from the trodden path and think out of the box. This made me quit my job and three years later I started my own IT consulting company – Amtex Systems in 1997. With merely 2 hands and 3 systems to work on in a small 100-sq.ft space across the JP Morgan corporate office, I invested my entire savings of $100,000 into Amtex. It was a difficult time and most of the companies that we approached were hesitant to outsource technology at that point of time and with absolutely no business identity in a city like New York, it was almost impossible to penetrate into investment banks, where everything was white collared. It was an uphill task, until our first client – an investment bank decided to try us out. That was when the tide turned. Amtex Systems is currently among the top 4 privately held IT consulting companies in New York and we consult some of the most reputed companies.

I believe, however, that this is just the beginning of a long journey. I have many ambitious plans for Amtex Systems and so far we have fared quite well, despite various setbacks, including the recession. We have our state of the art offshore development centre in India at Chennai and another branch in Delhi as well. Last year, we floated a venture with one of the world’s leading business intelligence enterprises, Information Builders Inc, to set up InfoBuild India and provide world class Business Intelligence solutions to the Indian market. Amtex Systems employs more than 1500 professionals globally and has twelve offices operating across six countries, earning revenues of over Rs 400 crores, at present.

Kumar GS: What are key service areas that Amtex caters to?

Sunny Pokala builds InfoBuild

Sunny Pokala: Our front-end client consulting services focus on defining, optimizing and aligning customer’s business and IT strategies as per the changing dynamics of the environment. With distinct strengths in IT consulting across verticals such as pharma, healthcare, retail and BFSI domains, we consult and service some of the world’s leading companies including Fortune 500 companies.

With the support of our ODC in India, we provide diverse IT services including application development and maintenance, infrastructure management and security services, staffing and software testing and quality assurance, apart from BPO support.

Kumar GS: How is Amtex different from other software service companies in India?

Sunny Pokala: Unlike most other software service companies, at Amtex Systems we built a strong consulting practice led by a team of highly qualified and experienced professionals and distinct long term customer relationships, much before we focused on setting up the ODC in India. The ODC was set up only as late as 2005, more as an additional benefit to keep our customer costs low. So, our value proposition was and continues to remain our consulting services and not the ‘low costs through ODC services’.

Kumar GS: What motivates the Amtex employees to come to work each morning and stay in office for next 8-10 hours?

Sunny Pokala: We work with clients from varied sectors and this coupled with regular job rotation allows the employees to keep learning and exploring new avenues. Moreover, one definitely has the opportunity to learn and grow faster in a mid-size organization such as ours. This also ensures that the work does not get monotonous. We also conduct regular employee programmes and initiatives that make the work-place more interesting and fun to be at.

Kumar GS: What helped Amtex to be profitable even amid the turbulent economic times especially when majority of customers are feeling the heat of recession?

Sunny Pokala: Our diversity with respect to the clients / sectors we handle, helped us keep our heads above the water. In addition, as indicated earlier our clear focus on the consulting practice and building long term partnerships with customers, rather than a vendor based approach, has helped. Also, our new venture InfoBuild India, providing BI solutions to the Indian market shows huge potential.

Kumar GS: What is the biggest value addition that Amtex adds to its customers business?

Sunny Pokala: Understanding of the US market, our customers’ business and providing solutions that are customized to their business requirements.

Kumar GS: How the recession have changed the business practices of IT organizations.

Sunny Pokala: The recession has made organizations spend more prudently and take a more pragmatic approach to resource hiring. Organizations have also understood the importance of and begun to focus on building a diverse client portfolio.

Kumar GS: Thanks for sparing your preciuos time for this interview.

Concluded…

Aufait Technologies is a software services provider that offer to Business Process Management Solutions to various Industry Verticals. While during recession companies fired employees, Aufait took the opportunity to hire the quality professionals. It hired two IIM-K graduates into its management team, which shows the high aspirations of this 40 employees company.

It is not only in strategic hiring mode in recession, its also developing strategic partnerships with key companies in its domain. Aufait has recently partnered with Intalio, an open-source Business Process Platform company and one of the Gartner’s visionary companies.

Readit India’s Senior Editor Kumar GS had a chance to interview Aufait Technologies CEO Mr. Bijith Ahmed, and explored the many facets of this IT company.

Kumar GS: What made you co-found Aufait Technologies? How old is Aufait as a company?
Bijith Ahmed: The idea of setting up own business was there in mind since college time and we had tried couple of attempts before Aufait goes on track. Initially it was planned as a web multimedia company based in Bangalore. We started as as informal setup in Bangalore and later we moved to Calicut, Kerala and established Aufait as a private limited company in 2003.

Bijith Ahmed

Kumar GS:What services do you offer and what specific “Customer Pains” do they cater to?
Bijith Ahmed: Once we came out of the initial startup glitches, we decided to fine tune our target segment and the applications area on which Aufait should have its focus. Then we decided to offer solutions like BPM, Portals and GIS.

Let us talk about the “Customer Pains” that BPM solutions will alleviate. In the current turbulent economic scenario, companies are struggling to reduce their IT cost and make most out of their current IT infrastructure. Hence they need an agile IT system which will allow them to have a firm control over their business processes which need to evolve constantly. BPM will allow the customers to have process governance, agile IT systems, real-time monitoring and modification of their business processes. Most of all, it will help in better alignment of IT with business.

Aufait, being a silver partner of Intalio- the open source leader in BPM, will provide cost-effective and innovative BPM solutions to the customers.

Kumar GS:Are you catering to all verticals or focusing on some specific Industry verticals? What specific Industry verticals?
Bijith Ahmed: Though we have industry specific solutions for Government, Airlines and hospitality, currently we are leveraging our expertise on the above industries to provide horizontal solutions such as Portals and BPM which can be used in any industry verticals.

Kumar GS:Tell us something about your management team and its strengths?
Bijith Ahmed: Aufait was founded by a band of professionals from some of the leading IT companies like HP, SAP and Honeywell. Our current management team consists of Engineers with more than 15 years of Experience in IT industry and also people from IIMs and IITs. Today a cream of World-class technical and management professionals constitutes Aufait’s Management Team.

Kumar GS:I did not find any information about your team on your website, unlike other websites? Do you have any specific reasons for hiding this information?
Bijith Ahmed: There is no specific reason. Soon we will be adding the details to our site.

Kumar GS:Are you a Privately Funded Firm or VC Funded? If privately held, are you looking for any VC fundings in future?
Bijith Ahmed: Currently Aufait is a privately funded organization and talks are going on with VC and look very convincing.

Kumar GS: Out of Microsoft .NET, Java/J2EE and PHP/ MySQL (LAMP), which one do you think is your core strength?
Bijith Ahmed: J2EE is our biggest practice. We have teams in other mentioned technologies also.

Kumar GS: Have you developed any Product also? If yes, what?
Bijith Ahmed: Yes. We have two products in our portfolio.

e-Recruit: e-Recruit is a simple online recruitment system that makes your hiring process easier, faster and cost effective. e-Recruit enables recruitment team to create job postings, manage job application responses, update job status and take quick reports for screening which drastically reduces the labor and money spent on manual recruitment.

Promise: Promise is our Property Management System which provides a new and innovative way to perform property management tasks more efficiently. This is a web-based property management solution developed for property managers of residential and commercial properties.
Kumar GS: Do you think India still has strength in IT Services?
Bijith Ahmed: Of course YES. But to remain competitive in the face of threats from Eastern Europe and China, the expenses and the compensation need to be leveled.

Kumar GS: What is Greenlemon? Why Greenlemon was launched as a new company? What services do it offer? How is it different from Aufait?
Bijith Ahmed: Greenlemon is offering internet marketing services, which is totally a non technical company. With this spun off, Aufait’s focus on enterprise solutions can be strengthened. Greenlemon, as a company with specific focus on Internet Marketing solutions will give lot of mileage than projecting it as a brand under Aufait, which is having Enterprise solutions as its core focus.

Kumar GS: I find your both companies have blogs? How do you think Blogs help companies in their growth or are they mere a fad?
Bijith Ahmed: It really helps us to generate good number of leads online and help us to increase our visibility on various search engines. Also Aufait is yet to publish its core technical and business oriented blogs by which we aim to expose our expertise to prospective customers. We are expecting these blogs to showcase our technical expertise and the credibility among the viewers.
Kumar GS: During Recession, how are you marketing your products?
Bijith Ahmed: Since we have been focusing more on Middle East market, we have very few negative signals from Dubai. Based on this experience we are planning to strengthen our focus on other non-affected regions. Also BFS is not our core vertical and this adds to our advantages since that is the most seriously affected industry of the ongoing recession.

Kumar GS: What is the employee strength of your company?
Bijith Ahmed: Around 40

Kumar GS: What keeps Aufait-ians motivated, everyday?
Bijith Ahmed: Aufait is an open and flat organization. The autonomy given to the employees and the work-Life balance keeps them motivated even in pressing times.

Kumar GS: To which customer segment do E-Recruit helps: HR Managers of the companies or professional recruitment agencies?
Bijith Ahmed: e-Recruit helps HR Managers in automating the entire recruitment cycle starting from Recruitment requests from various departments, publishing them online, shortlisting, filtering, communicating, scheduling interviews etc.

Kumar GS: Because every new entrant in the existing market needs to have some unique to offer, how is e-Recruit better than existing recruitment portal like Naukari.com, Monster.com?
Bijith Ahmed: e-Recruit is not a portal but a recruitment solution for SMBs. Though there are players here too, with our unique pricing with minimum and most useful features will be differentiating factor. We are also planning to take e-Recruit to SaaS and Pensource model.

Kumar GS: Can E-Recruit integrate with other HCM solutions?
Bijith Ahmed: No. But we have planned to incorporate some additional features in subsequent releases. It will include connectors for major vendors in HCM.

Kumar GS: What are internet marketing services that you offer?
Bijith Ahmed: Basically our offshoot “Greenlemon” takes care of all internet marketing services. We provide solutions ranging from web strategy consultancy, social media optimization, Search Engine Optimization, PPC and email campaigns and web development.

Kumar GS: How do your portal solutions help companies to grow their business further? With billions of portals available, how your portal solutions are different?
Bijith Ahmed: We have expertise on multiple enterprise portal technologies like SharePoint, Lifreray apart from public portals based on drupal, joomla etc. We have developed portals for real-estate, e commerce, media, travel, etc. We believe that portals are integral part of Business Process Platform of any organization which makes them adapt to changes quickly and helps them retain their competitiveness in the ever changing market place. Since we mostly depend on proven enterprise ready platforms, our value addition comes in the form of creating better user experience and thus engaging users for better productivity .
Kumar GS: What you do to manage your costs during recession?
Bijith Ahmed: Basically we used to be a “Cost Conscious Organization”; even before recession we handle costs with care. And secondly the market and the geographies we serve are one of the least affected segments. So we are yet to face the serious part of it. But we have taken a wait and watch approach and hence some of our appraisals are on hold.

Kumar GS: What are the core strengths of Aufait and what areas are you looking to significantly improve upon?
Bijith Ahmed: Openness, transparency and flexibility are believed to be the core strength. We would like to improve our strength in our offerings like BPM, Portal and GIS and become leaders in these core focus areas.

Kumar GS: What you see in the future for Aufait in terms of Financial Growth and in terms of employee strength?
Bijith Ahmed: We have devised a practical growth plan based on our offerings and the target
markets. Currently we have planned in such a way to triple our strength by end of this year basically by strengthening our sales and marketing activities.

Kumar GS: What is your prediction for Future of IT companies in India for next Five Years?
Bijith Ahmed: The IT Industry is getting “leveled” because of the current economic scenario. There is a bit of overselling happening around. . Influence of social media and new models like SaaS, cloud computing, etc. will force big players to think of different alternatives and help new entrants like us to come up. Once the industry is leveled, it will just move on like any other industry.

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Hailing from a Middle Class family, the path to success in modelling and acting has not been easy for this beauty with the brain, who holds an Engineering Degree above her gorgeous body and aspires for another qualification in Business Administration. Apart from the beauty and the brain she has a determined heart, has experienced all walks of life from a local Mumbai train to Business gatherings. This versatile exposure to life makes her one of the most suitable profiles for Indian Television and Bollywood. And Film Ramya has already signed her up for the movie “Kalla Kathalan”.

No doubt that in very near future her name will pop amongst top Bollywod actresses. I, Kumar GS, Sr. Editor Readit India, got a chance to peep into the courageous struggle and ignited mind of one and only Priyanka Shah. It was a Telephonic interview, you can the importaant excerpts here:

Kumar GS: Hi Priyanka and welcome to Readit India. Its my pleasure to be your host for next thirty minutes. Did somebody inspired you to join modelling?

Priyanka Shah: Nobody from my family came from modelling background. Though I always dreamt of a model. I usually asked my mom “How tall is Aishwarya Rai”? She told she is 5’8″ and so I always wanted to be 5’8″. So modelling was always somewhere in my mind.

Kumar GS: What’s your height now?
Priyanka Shah: It is 5’9″.

Kumar GS: That’s a great height for an Indian girl. Did you ever dream to be Miss India?

Priyanka Shah: I was always looking for Miss India, so I was very cautious. I knew I wont be allowed to go to Miss India before I finish my studies. I was very happy when Miss Indian increased the limit to 26 years.

Kumar GS: What made you to apply for Get Gorgeous Gal 2005?

Priyanka Shah: I have a very good friend of mine (who is happily married now!). He was into GladRags. He watched me moving on the ramp in college during a college festival. When I won the Best Model award, he inspired me to try my luck in modelling. It was he who pushed me to go to apply for Get Gorgeous. I was very confused even at the last moment when I was filling the form. I was extremely raw. But I was short-listed. Then my friends supported me a lot.

Kumar GS: How did you feel when you won Get Gorgeous Gal.

Priyanka Shah: It was a wonderful feeling. It was lot of hard work. Not coming from modelling community, I have to go through complete makeover. I never had a model figure. I have a sportive figure, which was unsuitable fit for a Model.

Kumar GS: Did you go through any professional trainings?

Priyanka Shah: Reducing weight and maintaining a model figure was a big challenge for me. I have only 20 days to loose weight. So I had to work out harder. We did not have any professional training. There were no rules. It was only in our hands. I changed my diet completely. I ate in entire day what I earlier used to eat only during breakfast.

But I lost 5-6 kilos. More than that I reduced my waist from 28 inches to 25.5 inches. And this was all in 25 days.

Kumar GS: What are day to day challenges of being a model?

Priyanka Shah: Being a model, you always have to look glamorous. You have to take care of your self , your finances, maintain a good house, show professionalism all the times. You are always in the eyes of public.

Kumar GS: Most people think that being a model means enjoying your life?

Priyanka Shah: Being a model isn’t an any easy path. It ask for very very hard work. Finances are a big challenge. There is lot of job insecurity. You do not get a salary package every month like in other jobs. Your tomorrow depends on today. What you do today you get tomorrow. And you have to be on a constant hunt for new jobs (unless you are Top Shot).

But then there are lots of advantages too. You can choose to work at your will. You travel a lot, you meet a lot of people. You get a chance to wear best clothes from best designers. All the time people admire you.

Kumar GS: How about your family’s reaction….

Priyanka Shah: I came from a very middle class family, where education is considered to be the prime importance. But support was always there. My uncle is an Officer in IPS, he supported me a lot.

Yes, everyone feels insecure about you because you don’t know what will be the outcome of your modelling stunts tomorrow. Parents are concerned about our career choices. But then it is a choice.

My family supported a lot in my education. When I was out of town on modelling assignments, they helped in in my engineering assignments, my notes and ensured that my home work is compensated by their support. You can never work single handedly, it is always a team effort.

Kumar GS: What is different in “Priyanka Shah” from other models?

Priyanka Shah: I have been a sport person and a sportive spirit too. I have experience of travelling everywhere. Being in Netball I know the joy of winning but also know that “it happens” when you loose.

I am a common man. Like other models who come from glamorous background, I have worked very hard to get what I have today. I know how to chase your dreams. I have been with the crowd and I know the pulse of people.

I know how to take the criticism in the right way. I have been through lots of criticism and taunting during these days and I have come over as a strong person.

Kumar GS: How about your sports career? Being already at national level are you looking at this option also?

Priyanka Shah: No. In India there is truly no sports career unless you are in Cricket, Tennis or some individual sports. For me its a passion now.

Kumar GS: What image would you like to have? A hot babe or a sweet homely girl.

Priyanka Shah: My focus is on honing my acting skills. Be it a sexy looking image or it be a homely image, it should have an applicability. Merely flaunting the body to capture attention is not my cup of tea, and I know it doesn’t work for long. It has never worked for long.

Kumar GS: What value add can a model do in branding of a product or a company?

Priyanka Shah: Models are more confident and they can face the camera in a better way. Thus a good model with a good face and a good body can ensure that the marketing message is retained in the customer’s mind. Thus models can add value add to the marketing efforts of the companies.

Kumar GS: What about the culture in Glamour Industry? How far are the stories of “exploitation” of models true? Like it was depicted in the film “Fashion” too.

Priyanka Shah: Exploitation happens in every industry and every field of life. Its not only in the fashion industry. Like in any industry there are good people and bad people. And this exists in corporates too. I have many friends in the corporate world who tell such stories

In modelling world, I would say it depends on the person. If you allow there are people who will exploit you. If you do not, nobody forces you. Its your choice.

In the move “Fashion” there has been too much hype on the exploitation and I think much of it was added just for entertainment. I would say it was hyped.

Kumar GS: Is modelling industry hit by Recession?

Priyanka Shah: As usual. There are less shows. But it won’t last long!

Kumar GS: What are your current and future projects?
Priyanka Shah: My current projects include a lot of modelling work which includes ramp and shoots in India and abroad..Soon after a few months I shall be doing my debut in a Tamil movie..So once the shoot starts will focus on it.

(Interview Concluded..)

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Veteran Nepali leader and the undisputed leader of the Communist party for 15 years, Madhav Kumar Nepalhas lashed out at the Maoists claiming that they have lost the confidence of the people of Nepal. Speaking exclusively to Indian channel News X reporter Piyush Pushpak in Kathmandu, Madhav Nepal claimed that he may soon be the Prime Minister of Nepal, “I am fully confident of forming the government. We have the support of Nepali Congress and we are hopeful that we will also get the support from the Madhershi front who have 83 seats in the Parliament will also support us.. We think that other parties will also come around. So we will have a comfortable majority”. Madhav Nepal said that he is meeting with leaders of other parties to convince them to join the next government. If Madhav Nepal succeeds then he will be the first Nepali Prime Minister of Indian origin. However, the support of the Madheshis, broadly speaking the Hindi speaking people of Indian origin will be crucial for him.

On being asked about his views on the Maoists’ allegations that India is meddling in the internal affairs of Nepal, Madhav Nepal said,”I don’t have any information ifanything may have gone behind the curtains. I feel blaming others, rather than realising their own mistake has landed the Maoists in this position.” Madhav Nepal said if you respect the law and the Constitution and work with the cooperationh of other parties, then you should let someone else take charge. ” There are many complications here. Maoists’ actions and behaviour has made the people question whether the Maoists are serious about democracy. The broader part of the population of Nepal feels their intentions are mala fide. If the Maoists are honest, they should try and win the confidence of the people… Since they have not done that,tension has developed between the Maoists, the Prime Minister and the President. This contradiction has developed to such an extent that the Prime Minister had to resign. Due to bad handling of these issues, today the Maoists have become isolated, they are alone but they are charging everybody else.”

On The Video tape controversy featuring Prachanda

“The casette episode has increased suspicions about the Maoists intentions. This needs to be discussed seriously in an open and transparent manner.”

On the Decision to sack the Army Chief – was it within the perview of the constitution or was it politically motivated?

“I think that the grounds that they have raised are not proper.” The Maoists had raised three issues. Our party clearly believes that one of the three points raised by them is not justified. We oppose it. Unlike the Maoists we believe that the new recruitment (done by the sacked Army Chief) is proper and is not against the understanding. On the second issue of ” the extention of the eight Generals, we believe that the case was sub-judice. If a case is subjudice, you cannot demand explanation from the concerned people. On the third issue related to the football tournament I think it is not a major issue. In sum, I feel the ground was neither valid not justified. So I feel the expulsion of the Army Chief does not hold ground.”

However, Madhav Nepal said that he would not be happy to form a government minus the maoists, ” We don’t want Maoists to go out of the equation. Its better that they become part of the government.This is an interim period and in this period we should work together.”

On the Maoist Threat to disrupt the activities of the Parliament.

“Nobody asked them to resign. They decided unilaterally. They have gone against the spirit of the constitution so it is they who have created the problem. If their resignation is genuine its their moral responsibilty they should back out and give the space to others. “

“If they can garner the required support they should try and form the government. Otherwise on moral grounds, on all logical grounds they should not disrupt the Parliament.”

A gold medalist from Panjab University in Journalism, he had been instrumental in setting up a hi-end audio studio to produce and air fm-style radio programmes through AIR, much before the FM radios came on the scene, and has actively contributed to the growth of PR in the country. A visiting faculty to several communication schools and Universities in the country, Charanjit received the citation, the PR Hall of Fame medallion, a shawl and trophy from Mr. Ad De Visscher, India Head of Shell Technology, Mr.M.B Jayaram, Chairman Emeritus PRCI, and Mr. Vaughn Richtor, CEO & MD ING Vysya Bank, and noted Kannada cine personality Ms Parvatamma Rajkumar.

The Global Meet was held on April 3-4, 2009 at the Hotel Lalit Ashok, Bengaluru.About PRCI Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) is a non-political organisation of professionals in the field of public relations, communications, advertising, education and many other allied services, providing industry professionals an opportunity to serve their community by encouraging high ethical standards in their respective areas of work and will be the first forum to offer accreditation to professionals in the stream. PRCI also has a separate cell for social action to look at developmental and social issues.

PRCI today has emerged today in the country as one of the foremost platforms for PR professionals for global exchange of ideas in many areas of public relations such as corporate communications, advertising, reputation management and academics. The organization provides a forum where creative minds often come together, upholding the challenges and values of professionalism in PR. PRCI, the registered body of PR professionals which was born just about four years ago, is proud to have over 18 active chapters spread across India and installation of 10 more chapters are on the anvil, with plans to go international in the very near future.

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