The ubiquitous Dabbawala who forms an integral part of Mumbai’s landscape is morphing into a techno savvy businessman, using modern mediums such as mobiles and the internet to market the hugely successful business.
“We have recently launched SMS services for our customers where they can avail our service by sending us a text message. This step was taken after our website received a very good response and people wanted us to be more accessible,” Raghunath Megde president of the Dabbawala union said.
“We have also started using computers to manage records of our customers. Our website enables our customers to place their orders online. On the launch of our SMS sevice, we got 15 new orders on the first day itself,” Manish Tripathi, software consultant, and a part of the project, said.
When asked whether the Dabbawalas were heading towards adopting a more technological frame of business, Medge said “Our logistics system, where we deliver dabbas all over Mumbai, still functions without any technological help, but we feel that we have to use technology to market our business and reach as many people as possible.”
The Dabbawalas’ accurate and precise system of delivering hot home-cooked meals to more than 2 lakh office goers in Mumbai has drawn praise from all over the world, including business schools who want to study their system. Even Prince Charles made it a point to invite them to his second wedding after meeting them in the city in ‘03 during a visit.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Friday, June 23, 2006
Time to Logout
Another infotech firm has decided to call it quits. Bangalore’s rising costs have pushed Texas-based Pervasive Software to shut down its 18-month-old development centre in the city.
This move by the data infrastructure software company, which had over 50 people here, comes within weeks of Apple Computer’s decision to exit Bangalore. Apple’s move too was said to have been guided by cost considerations. Besides, Powergen had last week pulled out of India blaming poor quality of services for its UK customers.
“We are consolidating technical operations for our integration productline in Austin and closing our Bangalore-based subsidiary this month, while still maintaining an India presence through our long-time development partner, Aztec Software,” said Pervasive president and CEO John Farr.
Pervasive — which provides data infrastructure software — had commenced operations in Bangalore when it acquired another Austin-based company Datajunction, which specialised in data integration products.
“The potential cost savings of an off-shore development operation can be mathematically compelling. However, we have found that the complexity of managing such an operation and the increasing costs of labour, employee turnover, training, and facilities in a hot market such as Bangalore make it challenging to ultimately realise those savings,” Farr added.
The company has placed an local manager, Jaisimha Muthegere, as the director of its India software operations. Muthegere had earlier announced that Pervasive would establish a world-class R&D centre in India by recruiting top-level engineers.
He had also said that the centre would focus on product development, including core R&D work, and not just maintenance, to address customer and market needs.
Even in September 2005, the company had reiterated its commitment to India and had announced big expansion plans.
When contacted, Aztecsoft (previously Aztec Software) said this strategic move to shift its captive development centre has no bearing on its long-standing relationship with Pervasive. “Aztecsoft has a six-year-long relationship with Pervasive Software. Over the years, we have developed several of their products and we continue to do so,” an Aztecsoft spokesperson said.
This move by the data infrastructure software company, which had over 50 people here, comes within weeks of Apple Computer’s decision to exit Bangalore. Apple’s move too was said to have been guided by cost considerations. Besides, Powergen had last week pulled out of India blaming poor quality of services for its UK customers.
“We are consolidating technical operations for our integration productline in Austin and closing our Bangalore-based subsidiary this month, while still maintaining an India presence through our long-time development partner, Aztec Software,” said Pervasive president and CEO John Farr.
Pervasive — which provides data infrastructure software — had commenced operations in Bangalore when it acquired another Austin-based company Datajunction, which specialised in data integration products.
“The potential cost savings of an off-shore development operation can be mathematically compelling. However, we have found that the complexity of managing such an operation and the increasing costs of labour, employee turnover, training, and facilities in a hot market such as Bangalore make it challenging to ultimately realise those savings,” Farr added.
The company has placed an local manager, Jaisimha Muthegere, as the director of its India software operations. Muthegere had earlier announced that Pervasive would establish a world-class R&D centre in India by recruiting top-level engineers.
He had also said that the centre would focus on product development, including core R&D work, and not just maintenance, to address customer and market needs.
Even in September 2005, the company had reiterated its commitment to India and had announced big expansion plans.
When contacted, Aztecsoft (previously Aztec Software) said this strategic move to shift its captive development centre has no bearing on its long-standing relationship with Pervasive. “Aztecsoft has a six-year-long relationship with Pervasive Software. Over the years, we have developed several of their products and we continue to do so,” an Aztecsoft spokesperson said.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
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