Introduction to User Experience and its Business Relevance

What does it take to make a company successful? While getting the core business functions is the foremost task, it is still not enough. UX is the key differentiator in today’s world and the answer to everything.

Mr. Amber Krishan, Group Lead & Technical Director of Training, Human Factors International began with a question every company and every MBA student seeks an answer to. A graduate in product design from National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad) and post graduate in Design & Technology from Parsons School Of Design (New York), Mr. Krishan has over 6 years of experience in user interface design, usability analysis, consulting and research in the enterprise and consumer software industry. He has also been guest speaker at several events namely UPA chapter event, Connecticut, USA, Microsoft - Nokia Windows 7 Roadshow in Mumbai and Hyderabad and Appfest at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Talking about user experience, Mr. Krishan rightly said that UX is not about making things colourful, the coolest idea or quirky ads. Also, it is neither about getting onto every single platform nor about copying Apple. UX is about getting the business objectives right and working with customers to decipher what they want. The idea is to design a user experience journey that spans across all channels.

While the audience was enchanted by the new dimension of doing business as explained by the guest speaker, he opened up another unexplored avenue to the students- UX as a business discipline. UX leaders are known to outperform competition even when the economy is not doing well. As future MBAs, we should give UX a serious thought as it is considered a top strategic priority in the everyday changing business environment.  

"Ideapreneurship" - An Idea Generation Workshop

“One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.” ― Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr

Team CED came up with an exciting workshop to open up the vision and make the students enter into a new world of ideas on 7^th October 2013 at FORE School of Management. The entrepreneurship cell of the college aims at building, encouraging and promoting a conducive environment for developing innovative ideas of entrepreneurial ventures among young minds within the campus. The event which was presided over by Mr. Pravin Rajpal, Founder and CEO of InnovatioNext Imagination Labs (iLabs), was very well received by the students.

Mr. Pravin has authored best sellers like ‘Achieving Business Excellence’ and ‘5 Thinkings to Win’, in the year 2007 & 2008. In a span of five years from 2008-2013, he conducted more than 200 idea factory workshops for breakthrough ideas. In 2011, he developed CII Innovation Framework & Measurement Systems and went on to develop India’s first Imagination Lab to foster breakthrough ideas, in the year 2012.

Talking about what do recruiters these days look for in their prospective employees, Mr. Pravin said that in today’s disruptive world, one can either become distinct or extinct. What separates the creative minds from others is the ability to transform challenges into opportunities and constraints into advantages. He further said that chance favours the connected mind. So, if you are able to connect your thoughts with the needs of people, you can be way ahead of others. He asked the students to come up with an idea that people would be willing to invest in and thus multiply your own market value. Through vivid examples and an interactive session with students, the guest speaker brought home the fact that instead of reading mythological case studies, one should focus on becoming a case study himself by doing something concrete.

SPIC MACAY

What happens when maestros of the highest order of two different musical instruments decide to play a duet together? That is exactly what students of FORE School of Management found out by firsthand experience on 27^th September 2013, when they were hit by an avalanche of melody and harmony, courtesy of a virtuoso performance by renowned sarod player Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury and distinguished tabla artiste Ustad Akram Khan.

The event was organised by FSD, the student-driven sports and cultural division of FORE School of Management in collaboration with SPIC MACAY. The programme commenced at 3 o’clock in the college auditorium, with the introduction of the esteemed performers of the evening. Then, mementos were presented to Ustad Akram Khan and Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury by Director, FSM, Dr. Jitendra K. Das.

When asked to say a few words to the audience, Dr. Jitendra K. Das gave a short anecdote about his first rendezvous with Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s music, which laid the foundation for his long-standing association with SPIC MACAY. He described his experience of listening to Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s music and recalled how he was engrossed and lost in it, hoping that the audience would enjoy the evening in much the same way.

Tabla artiste Ustad Akram Khan and Sarod player Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury 

Next, Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury gave a brief insight into his music and his long-standing musical association with Ustad Akram Khan. He also spoke a little about professionalism in music and life in-general. Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury started the performance with the Raga Bhimpalasi Alap, which was an introductory piece, played solo without the accompaniment of tabla. The alap went on for about fifteen minutes, after which Ustad Akram Khan joined Pt.  Biswajit Roy Chowdhury with his tabla.

Ustad Akram Khan coordinated beautifully with Pt. Biswajit Roy Chowdhury; there were times when the Sarod came to the foreground, with the tabla playing in the background whereas on occasions the order reversed smoothly. Finally, the mesmerising performance was brought to a close, leaving everyone yearning for more.

But, all in all, it was an evening to remember for all, and as hoped by Dr. Jitendra K.Das, everyone was well and truly engrossed and lost in the music. 

JUBILATE 2013

“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.“

With Jubilate 2013 just around the corner, it is time to welcome our fellow brethren at FORE and bask in the glory of their success. Jubilate – the annual alumni meet of FORE School of Management aims to keep the former students of FORE connected to their roots. It gives them a day to reflect over the years gone by, the hardships faced, the accolades earned, opportunities lost, dreams fulfilled and above all to celebrate themselves. 

FORE has always taken pride in its esteemed alumni and an event like this to welcome them again strengthens the bond and bridges the gap between the past and present of the college. It is an overwhelming sight to see the alumni recollecting their stories of college classrooms, cafeteria and auditorium like it was a thing of yesterday. The warm welcome by the junior batch, the sensational band performance, the amazing skit, the alumni recognition awards and nostalgic recollections of the past followed by food and cocktail were the highlights of Jubilate 2012. The event which is primarily organized by the FAN (FORE Alumni Network) committee has proved to be a huge success over the years and promises a lot more this year as well.

So, let’s gear up for Jubilate 2013 – a mesmerizing experience where the wisdom of past meets the enthusiasm of present.

SUPER 8

Super 8 is the annual cricket intra-college tournament held at FORE.

Like previous years, the contest drew participation from cricket buffs from the the 1^st and 2^nd years. The tournament kicked off on the 8^th of August, and drew participation from 12 teams of eight players each. The teams were divided into 4 groups of three teams , with the top two teams from each group advancing to compete in the quarter-finals. Teams put their best foot forward to grab the 4 semi-final berths.

After two weeks of non-stopping cricket action, four teams finally made it. In order to up the ante, team FSD increased the number of overs from 8 to 10 for the semi-finals and the finals.  The final match saw Mental Warriors and Underdogs fight it out on the cricket pitch to take the top prize. The Underdogs started the game and set a competitive target of 75 runs for their opponents. Anuj was the standout player for the Underdogs and contributed 37 runs to his team’s total, hitting five 4s in the process. Sarthak (Mental Warriors) posted impressive bowling figures for his team (3overs, 3 wickets and 16 runs conceded).

The chasing team however, held their own and chased the target in 31 balls only, losing two wickets in the process. Calm and composed knocks by Amit and Sarthak (34 and 30 respectively) took their team across the finish line. Sarthak Vij took the Man of the Match prize for his all round performance.

Team Mental Warriors with the trophy

All matches in the tournament were played with exemplary sportsmanship. Since this was the first sports event for the new batch of 2013-15, team FSD can pat themselves on the back for conducting another successful tournament. Yet another feather in their cap !

CONFLUENCE 2013

The Corporate Interaction Division, which is the official student-driven interface between the students of FORE School of Management and the corporate world, organized a seminar on 29^th of August, 2013, aptly named “Confluence 2013”, where four highly esteemed experts from diverse backgrounds and organisations spoke and enlightened us on the topic of “Challenges and opportunities in catering to the bottom of the pyramid”.

The event was chaired by Prof. Freda Joseph Swaminathan , a senior member of the faculty at FSM. She began the proceedings by introducing the guest speakers to us. Then she gave us a brief overview of the topic under discussion and in the process made references to Mr C.K. Prahalad, whose book “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid” was a seminal work on the subject. She also looked back on her days at IIM Ahmedabad, when she was a student of Mr C.K. Prahalad. She lamented the fact that very few people nowadays want to cater to the bottom of the pyramid.

The first speaker invited to the lectern was Mr Ajay Chowdhury, who is the Vice President & Head HR at SRF Ltd. His speech was centred on harnessing the power of the people. He opined that all pyramids are contextual, which is why an economy class traveller is at the bottom of the pyramid in one context and at the top of the pyramid in another. He talked about the role he plays in catering to the bottom of the pyramid as member of his organization. As Mr Ajay Chowdhury has been in HRM all his life, he likes to get involved directly in the various rural development programmes that his company undertakes. He personally trains people in two or three sports in the rural areas. His company also organizes a Nature Resource Management Programme, whose function is to convert non-arable land into arable land.

The next person to speak was Mr Joginder Bajaj.  He has work experience of over 36 years in Punjab National Bank and is presently the General Manager there. He too advocated the idea of “eradicating poverty through profit” as propounded by Mr C.K. Prahalad. He outlined the major obstacles lying in the way of eradicating poverty through profit, such as the lack of awareness in the business community of the potential of the hitherto untapped market at the bottom of the pyramid, lack of money, lack of infrastructure and most importantly the lack of willingness across the business community to engage in developmental work in rural areas.

Mr Sanjay Kumar Nigam, Head, SCM and Procurement, Mara-ison Technologies Pvt. Ltd, was the next to take the lectern. He spoke at length about the present economic scenario, the depreciation of the rupee and the implications of the same for the people at the bottom of the pyramid.

The final speaker for the day was Mr. Samik Dasgupta, Deputy General Manger, IFCI. He gave a fiery speech on the need for a complete overhaul of the approach of the business community towards the bottom of the pyramid. He stressed on the need for a bottom-up approach and declared that a top-down model will never work.

Next we had a Q & A session, which gave the students an opportunity to interact freely with the experts.

And finally, Prof Swaminathan brought the event to a close by summing up the discourse, thanking the guests for their invaluable inputs, and gifting mementos to the guests.

The Startup Story

“An idea can change your life…” this tag line of Idea telecommunication captures well the soul of entrepreneurship. ‘The Startup Story’, an event organized by The Centre for Entrepreneurship Development at FORE School of Mangement proved this point right. An idea, small or big can change your entire course of life, and it did for the three entrepreneurs who visited FORE School of Management on 28th June,2013 to share their success stories with an aim to make the management students taste the flavor of what it takes to become an entrepreneur and have your own set up.

The esteemed panel included Mr. Ankit Mehrotra founder dineout.co.in, Mr. Sahil Bagla, founder Bluegape Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. Ankur Gupta founder, Connectech India.The session was chaired by Ms. Geetika Dayal, Executive director TiE, New Delhi.

The panelists with Ms. Geetika Dayal (Executive Director – TiE) who chaired the session 

Mr. Ankit Mehrotra is the co-founder and CEO of Dineout. Dineout hostswww.dineout.co.in, a table reservation website which enables the customer to book a table, online and through the phone, at their favorite restaurants in town and provides them fantastic discounts for FREE, which they would not be entitled to if they go to the restaurant directly. Mr. Ankit Mehrotra,  a CFA charter holder  with an Engineering degree from  Computers and Telecommunication University of Essex, he has more than 7 years of experience in investment banking and Wealth Management with BNP Paribas in London, where he was managing a portfolio of UHNWI. However, he quit his job and moved back to India in late 2011 to start Dineout. He was awarded the Young Entrepreneur of the year 2012 and the 6^th Indira International Innovation Summit in 2013.

Ankit Mehrotra, Founder - Dineout 

Mr. Sahil Baghla is the co- founder and CEO of Bluegape Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. Bluegape.com is started with a vision to deliverpersonalized poster that can reflect your attitude to the world. Mr.Baghla is an entrepreneur by character and an IITian by education. He is a senior Undergraduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (July 2008-May 2012) and was a visiting student at university of Kansas. He did his internship from Orbis Biosciences and was the Overall Coordinator at the Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kanpur. He is a specialist in Team Building, Chemical Engineering, Biomaterials and entrepreneurship.

Mr. Ankur Gupta is the Founder of Connectech India Services. It is a parent company which has companies like Gadget Guru, Rainbow Impex, www.gadgetpotli.com and China Global Trading Enterprise Limited, Honk Kong under its umbrella. He is an astute professional with 4 years’ experience in the areas of Pre-Sales Initiative Marketing and Business Development. Associated with companies like Teleperformance India, Gurgaon, HDFC Bank Ltd, Kotak Securities Ltd, SREI International Securities Ltd, he is adept in developing ‘winning’ demonstration and presentations for key decision makers. A FORE alumni he hass hands on experience in exploring and developing new markets, identifying customers, brand promotion, new product launch and developing growth.

The session chair was Ms. Geetika Dayal who is the executive Director-TiE, New Delhi. Previously she was the proprietor of Magnus consulting for 5 years. She has been associated with TiE since July 2001. She is an expert in area of Entrepreneurship and Team Building.

Each of these entrepreneurs had one thing in common; they all had a novel idea, an unmatched passion and an unending determination. They dared to believe that they would do it. They had to face the opposition of the world and above all the opposition of their families. They said it was the hardest part in the journey of any entrepreneur to convince his family to have a belief in their ideas. It was hard to stop, turn and choose a new path, they said. Fear and disappointed haunted their thoughts now and then. But they never gave up. And now, here they are where no one would have imagined them a few years back. And yes, it all began with a simple, novel, practical yet innovative-idea!