Annual Sports Meet: the fight to win!

It was one helluva of an event that had the perfect mix of enthusiasm, dedication and the fight to win.

The annual sports day concluded on Sunday, 27th October with much fanfare and fun minus all the mishaps (READ: Injuries, pains, muscle tears) etc. The games had all the teams of Vulcans-PGPM Energy’15, Ojas-PGPM Energy’14 and Titans PGPM’14 along with Alumni and Faculty teams meeting each other for the first time on fun grounds and playing against each other, with ferocious spirit of winning the game and upholding the spirit of being fair… with one and all… So, whether it was football or cricket everyone came out with their set of ploys for the game and played with their full might.

When it comes to sports the common myth of girls not being sporty enough went for a complete toss when even the girls of the three teams came out in the open and played with full enthusiasm and aplomb. On the other hand no game is complete without the perfect audience and our fellow Lakers were very dedicated when it came to a fan base… So be it braving the cold or the harsh sun… the Lakers were all game for the GAME!!!

As the games ended it was time to savour some hot piping pooris with rice, sabjis et al at our very own Swiss cottage kitchen! Which was a foodie’s delight for those two days of pure fun.

As the curtains closed for the sports day, it was time to announce the winners and the losers; but all in the spirit of game!

Wish this wouldn’t have ended so soon! Hope to come back again with more fun unlimited!

Happy reading 🙂

Warm Regards,

Events Committee

Great Lakes, Gurgaon

Importance of Social Media Analytics by Himani Agrawal

Himani Agrawal visited Great Lakes campus to share her insights on Digital Analytics and its future with students. Himani is passout of 98′ batch of IIM Calcutta, she has worked with Microsoft before taking the role of Marketing Manager at SAP. Discussion centered around how modern day marketing is more about understanding data using statistical tools and how onus of being custodian of brand lies in hand of marketing manager.

There are tools and technology which enable companies us to process and make sense of big data, we can understand consumer behavior like never before. With the advent of social media, companies now-days are very concerned about their online brand image, be it response to new product, service levels, promotions or news because consumers are vocal than ever before to express their emotions on social platforms. Companies need to continuously monitor such trends which can provide them time to address issues with actions which can be measured (again by listening to trends). It is also easy to measure ROI and effectiveness of a campaign.

SAP NetBase is an ERP software, its millions of servers connects to social media platforms like Twitter/Facebook/Blogs and can ‘listen’ to what consumers have to say about Brands and their competitors. Through Natural language processing tool it can understand slang terms like ‘gr8’ and ‘my phone is sick’ and also update its database automatically as new slangs emerge. She also talked about SAP JAM through which organizations can do social collaboration and include all stakeholders like employees, partners and customers to share information which can shorten sales cycle and improve engagements.

Since Analytics as a specialization is offered by Great Lakes, Gurgaon and Gurgaon is hub of Internet/ecommerce companies such insights by Himani really helped generate interest among students , who plan to take marketing and analytics as a specialization.

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 16 – Respect to Elders

My dear young friends,

1st October being International Elders’ Day, several concerns have been expressed for them in different forums. For instance in Maharashtra they are talking of reserving 10% of CSR budget of Corporates for Elders’ welfare; declaring and publishing a “Defaulters List” of those who do not take care of their dependent parents etc.

I was told that in one of the European countries, elders do not travel out of their houses from 9 to 12 am and 3 to 6 pm for the fear of being thrown by the young crowd. I thanked God that I was not born in that country until I was thrown out from a Mumbai Local train by a rushing crowd. I took an oath not to travel in Mumbai’s Local trains. That day I also remembered a small incidence from my college days.

I was studying in Government Engineering College Jabalpur which was on the outskirts of the City. In the evening a Bus used to carry the day scholars to City. I was a hosteler and one day I decided to board the same Bus to go to City. It was raining. The moment the Bus came to the ‘Bus Stop’ the crowd of students rushed to occupy the seats since it was a long distance ahead to keep standing. In the process they pulled Prof Arora, an elderly gentleman, who fell on the ground in the mud. Prof. Arora was an honorary
professor in our college who used to teach us Engineering Economics charging a notional fee of Re 1/-.

Some of us stepped down to help Prof Arora and brought him to a back seat. I said “it could not have happened if everyone came in a queue”. Prof Arora stated “It would take 100 years to make a queue here”. It pierced my mind and hurt my ego perhaps as a senior student of the college. I was in 4th year then. I decided that I would not take food until a queue is made. When my friends noticed it they all got
worried. They took me to all the hostels to address and appeal to students. We hostelers were larger in number compared to the day scholars. After two intervening holidays, a much larger crowd was seen at the Bus Stop, hostelers persuading the day scholars to enter the Bus only in a queue. I never saw Prof Arora again in the college but queues were a permanent feature.

We live on a land where respect to elders is one of the fundamental elements of our “Sanskar Matrix”. Many years ago, I was introduced to an Australian in New Delhi. After a chat, I asked him as to when is he returning to his motherland. He answered; he planned to settle down in India. I asked him why, with a surprise. He said “it is a wonderful country where even my neighbor’s son touches my feet when he comes back from the hostel for a break”. Such respect to elders cannot be seen in any other country, he added.

I am surprised as to why we can’t live up to such a great culture of our country. I get stunned when I see juniors calling their seniors by name not even suffixing it by “Sir” or “Ma’am” or “Ji”. Unfortunately, some consider ragging like crime necessary to ensure this. What elders need most is respect from youngsters. After all they have toiled whole life not only for their families but the Society at large. All the basic amenities like roads, transport systems, electricity and its public usage like street lights, lifts, metros etc. have been built with the taxes they have been paying for years. Can’t they expect a small return in terms of respect? Did we celebrate International Elders’ Day in our Institutions, offering just flowers to the elders expressing our gratitude for all that they have done for us directly or indirectly?

What I see in India today is glimpses of respecting gestures by youngsters, not practiced by all as a social virtue. Once after landing, a corporate executive in a very formal dress offered to carry my heavy hand bag to the belt which impressed me, making me think that Indian youth is still different. I wonder why they don’t promote a separate queue for senior citizens in banks and other public places as a sign of respect and concern for their decaying health and stamina.

With one touch the modern mobile screen changes the pictures and brings the whole world of information at your disposal. If this happens with a smart phone made by man, what can happen if a person created by God touches the younger one with all the affection and compassion at his command? History of mobile phone is hardly 20-25 years whereas the history of evolution of man is 5-million years. Man possesses intelligentsia of growth and improvement over 5-million years. Man being relatively more sensitive when touches the younger one keeping his hand over his head, kissing his forehead, patting his back, shaking his hand or hugging him with open arms, will it not bring a quantum difference in the recipient’s world of emotions and spirits. Touch of parents, teachers and elders emanating from pure and pristine emotions of goodwill does make a difference beyond measure!

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI Scholar, D.Engg.(Calif), FNAE
Hon.D.WRE (ranked amongst 30-most eminent scientists in the world)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI / REL), Ex-Director (REC)/ Executive Director (IREDA)

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Sapience 2013 – Annual Management Conclave

Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon held its Annual Management Conclave ‘Sapience – 2013’ at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 23^rd September,2013. The Conclave was graced by Dr. Arvind Mayaram, Secretary Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, as the Keynote Speaker. The Conclave also saw 21 eminent industry leaders participating in panel discussions on key areas for growth and opportunities in this challenging economy.

India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF), Bridgei2i and Evalueserve were the knowledge partners for the Conclave and Mint the Media partner. The guests were welcomed by Mr. Mohan Lakhamraju, Vice Chairman – Great Lakes Institute of Management and Dr. Himadri Das, Director – Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon. 

Dr. Arvind Mayaram delivered the keynote address on the theme ‘Growth Drivers in a Stressed Economy’. With his vast experience as an administrator and as key economic policy maker,  Dr. Mayaram, focused on the key macroeconomic indicators related to the recent volatility seen in the markets, depreciation of the rupee, Current Account Deficit (CAD), Fiscal Deficit and Inflation. He said that on each of these indicators the situation is completely under control and that the Government has done its arithmetic and taken measures to rein these in. Dr. Mayaram expressed a strong belief that the growth would return to its potential level of 8 per cent on account of greater investments in the country and said the investments were likely to pick up because of the large projects that have been cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Investment. Most importantly, Dr. Mayaram was a harbinger of hope that things would get better in the future.

The keynote address was followed by four panel discussions by industry leaders on the four possible growth drivers for the Indian economy – Smart Grids, Natural Gas, Internet & Mobile and Analytics.  Each panel had 5-6 senior industry participants with one of them moderating the panel and each panel discussion was preceded by a presentation by a Great Lakes Gurgaon student to create a background of the discussion with a review of the state of the art.

The themes for the four panel discussions were on the plausible growth drivers in the current stressed environment. The first panel was on Smart Grids and its role in improving the travails in the stressed power distribution sector. This was followed by a panel discussion on Natural Gas, which is expected to help grow the energy sector through an increased presence in the national energy basket mix. The other two panel discussions were in relatively very new sectors as compared to power distribution and natural gas. One of them was on Internet and Mobile and the other was on Analytics. The Internet and Mobile panel discussed innovative business models that have been in play and more innovations to follow, which will disrupt the way products and services are delivered and consumed. The Analytics panel focused on a huge opportunity for India as a global hub for analyzing huge quantities of data to gain actionable business insights that can drive competitive advantage,

Topic 1: Smart Grids – Transforming power to optimize assets and resources

This panel focused on smart grids that can balance loads and shift demand to create smoother demand curves that are aligned with power supply. “Will power availability be a key driver of growth across sectors?” was the question which was answered by the panelists. The panel also discussed the need, practicality and challenges of implementing such schemes and opined that smart grids with a focus on demand response can shift peak demand to different times of the day to get a smoother load curve that is more aligned with power generation. The panel said that this would go a long way in alleviating the power shortages faced during peak demand and reduce the pressure on increasing generation capacity.

The panel comprised of Bridgit Hartland Johnson, Managing Director – Energie Dynamique, Anish De, CEO Asia – Mercados EMI, Chintan Soni, Co-founder and Director – Ecolibrium Energy, Girish Muley, General Manager (Solutions, Energy & Utilities) – IBM India Pvt. Ltd., Gopal Saxena, CEO – BSES Rajdhani Power and Vikram Gandotra, General Manager (Marketing) –  Siemens.

Topic 2: Natural Gas – Playing a bigger role in the energy mix for generation and consumption

The panel discussed the effect of the proposed domestic natural gas price increase on driving investments in exploration and production that would in turn increase the availability of domestic natural gas and change the energy mix in the country to a cleaner fuel basket. The panel also discussed the success and desirability of piped natural gas as a substitute for LPG cylinders.

The panel comprised of Utpal Bhaskar, Energy Editor – Mint, Deepak Mahurkar, Director and Leader (Oil & Gas) – PWC, Karunakaran Hari, Head (Commercial) – Cairn Energy India, Prabhat Singh, Director (Marketing) – GAIL and Vijay Duggal, DGM (Commercial) – BPCL.

Topic 3: Internet and Mobile – The channel of choice for young Indian consumers

The panel witnessed the discussion on young India’s growing appetite for consumption and its overwhelming preference for the internet and mobile as the platform of choice for everything from information to commerce to socializing. The panel discussed the evolution of the Internet and mobile space and the current large categories of search, classifieds, travel, e-commerce, and a whole plethora of social network centric business models and was of the opinion that the future of this sector was likely to witness disruptive business models driven by rich media, mobility, localization, and digital payment systems.

The panel comprised of Ankur Warikoo, Head – Groupon APAC, Anurag Saran, Vice President (Product) –  Yatra, Apurva Chiranewala, Head (Strategic Alliances) – Snapdeal, Vivek Jain, Executive Vice President (Naukri Product & Analytics) – Info Edge India Ltd and Sriram Jagannathan, CEO, AIrtel mCommerce Services (joined through Skype).

Topic 4: Analytics – India as the future global hub

The panel discussed the deluge of data facing businesses today, huge volumes of data coming in at a high velocity from a variety of sources – the dawn of big data. The panel was of the opinion that this presents a huge opportunity for analytics to deliver actionable insights from this data that could drive competitive advantage for companies. The paucity of trained professionals to exploit this opportunity was discussed as a key challenge.

The panel comprised of Sanjoy Roychowdhury, Vice President – Evalueserve, Anurag Verma, CEO – fnMathLogic, Ashish Sharma, Co-founder and Director – Bridge i2i, Raghu Yalamanchili, Associate Director – Mu Sigma and Sivaramakrishnan Narayanan, Partner (Business Analytics, GBS) – IBM.