Gates comments on future of IT from The COMDEX Daily

Microsoft's Bill Gates speaks to The COMDEX Daily about the 'digital decade' and his company's long-term strategy.

Some people have said the world was changed in fundamental ways on Sept. 11. How does this 'new reality' and the broader economic difficulties affect the IT sector as a whole and, specifically, Microsoft's way of doing business? Does it impact the company's long-term strategy?

The tragic events of September 11 had an immediate impact on the whole economy, and they came at a time when the technology industry was already having some difficulties. So there's clearly some short-term impact on Microsoft's business. However, I'm still incredibly optimistic about the long-term prospects for technology. Software offers tremendous opportunities for businesses to work more efficiently and stay competitive - especially in difficult and uncertain times - and consumers are still excited about the productivity, communications and entertainment possibilities of the PC. While the coming months may be challenging for everyone, I don't see anything on the horizon that would keep us from pursuing our long-term strategic vision.

What does 2002 look like for the technology industry?

I'm confident that 2002 will be a year of significant growth. The innovations of the past few years have accrued to the point where we're entering a new era for PC technology - what I call the "digital decade." All the rich, inexpensive and connected devices coming out this year, combined with advanced software like Windows XP, are making it possible for people to rely on PCs for more of the things they do every day - managing their homes and businesses, communicating with friends and relatives, enjoying games, music and movies. This will transform how people and businesses think about computing and create exciting opportunities throughout the industry.

As Microsoft shifts from offering products to offering services, what does this mean for Microsoft's bread-and-butter desktop software business?

Microsoft's core strengths have always been in creating software that helps people be more productive, connected and entertained, and in building platforms and tools that developers can use to build their own great products and services. As software evolves from something you buy in a shrink-wrapped box to a service delivered over the Internet, that focus won't change. But you will see a gradual shift toward core software technologies such as .NET My Services, which will enable our customers to harness rich Web services to revolutionize how they do business. While the way we build and deliver our products will evolve, we'll still be totally focused on creating software and services that help people and businesses realize their potential every day.

Looking ahead five years, what's your vision for .NET?

Microsoft .NET is at the center of our vision for computing, and it's the biggest bet we've ever made as a company. It's a lot like the bets we made starting in 1983 - when we first announced Microsoft Windows here at COMDEX - and five years from now you'll see that .NET and Web services will be the core of our business, just as Windows is today.

Users seem to like Windows XP and the reviews have been strong. But many-perhaps most-consumers and businesses only use PCs for the most basic tasks of surfing the Net, sending-email and running Office applications. Since those users would only be scratching the surface of XP's power, what's the compelling reason to upgrade?

Windows XP has plenty to offer in terms of new features, from great support for digital music, photos and video to innovative new ways to communicate, but users will benefit from an upgrade no matter how they use their computers. Windows XP is built on the Windows 2000 code base, which means it's more stable, reliable, secure and powerful than ever. Its improved user interface makes the experience of using a computer much simpler and more intuitive. And its device support makes installing anything from a printer to a wireless home network quick and easy. Overall, I think anyone who upgrades will see the value right away, no matter how much - or little - they use their computer.

Biometrics has gotten a lot of press since Sept. 11. Where does Microsoft stand in its own biometric work and how will it manifest itself in your products?

Security has always been a major concern for the technology industry, and September 11 reminded us that it's a critical issue going forward. As more people and businesses rely on the PC to store and share important personal information and critical business data, they need systems they can trust. For years, Microsoft has worked to build strong security into all its products, including support for smart cards and the industry-standard Kerberos protocol, and we're committed to giving our customers the freedom to choose the level of security that fits their needs, whether it's biometrics or any other security measure.

As Microsoft continues to succeed in its old markets and grow in new ones, have your views of the company's responsibilities as an industry leader changed? To what extent does Microsoft feel a custodial role for steering the direction of technology?

We've played a very active role in nearly every aspect of the technology industry for quite a while, and I think that leadership work has tremendous benefits for everyone. We work with industry groups to develop and refine standards that can drive the industry forward, for everything from privacy and security to hardware and software interoperability. We work with partners, developers and customers to help them build on emerging technologies such as XML. And we work with industry and government leaders on policy issues that affect the technology industry and the economy as a whole. We're very aware of the need to be a responsible leader for the industry in everything we do.

Microsoft Research celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. What's the most exciting thing you see coming out of the labs soon?

The work Microsoft Research has done to advance the state of the art is tremendous, and it's had an impact on nearly all of our products. For example, Windows XP incorporates a number of technologies that originated in MSR - from ClearType, which vastly improves the quality of type on screen, to the Search Companion, which makes finding information on PCs or on the Internet easy and intuitive. They have built tools that make it easier for developers to quickly write software that's powerful, efficient and reliable. All these developments are part of a wave of innovations that will transform the way people think about computers, from new technologies that enable computers to see, listen, speak and learn, to advanced applications and user interfaces that make computing a far more natural and empowering experience.

A lot of your early crew at Microsoft has left over the years to found new companies. If you were starting from scratch what technology would you focus on?

For 25 years, we've built software that has empowered and enriched the lives of millions of people and transformed the way people think about computers, and there's still plenty of work to be done. I have the best job in the world, and I can't think of any other company or business I'd rather be working in.

Back in 1994 Microsoft was gearing up for the anticipated revolution in networking that brought us the proliferation of WANs, the Internet and the advent of wireless technology. What do you see as the next great leap, and how far away are we from taking it?

I believe we're taking the next great leap today. Now that PCs and smart devices are inexpensive and widely available, with faster and more reliable Internet connectivity, we can finally move forward from standalone applications and websites to rich, interconnected XML Web services that make it simple to access and share the information people need, any time, any place and on any device. Just as the networking innovations of the past few years have transformed the way people use their computers, the work we're doing today on Microsoft .NET will make computers an even more essential part of everyone's lives.

Call Centre Management

Read the opinions, comments and estimate of the IT industry people regarding IT Enabled Services in India
Dealing with the impossible, for the ungrateful, in the unreasonable timeframe.
Simon Roncororni
Consultant,
SRC Limited, UK.

It is easy to assume that any role in today's competitive environment is the toughest there is, and I would not want to be accused of claiming the unclaimable, but without a doubt, Call Centre management is one of the most challenging roles in business today.

Let's take a moment to look into that dim and distant past of just over 10 years ago, when call centres started to emerge. Is this really such a recent phenomenon? It was in 1988 that First Direct opened its doors. Direct Line started insuring only just before. The mail order companies had been in this field for some time, but were seen as 'mail' order, not 'telephone' order. Many said that Call Centres would never work and that people (consumers) would hate them. Yet, here we are at the close of a decade and Call Centres represent the fastest growing employment sector in the UK - employing more people than the coal mining, steel and motor manufacturing industries combined. So, the whole skill area has had to develop rapidly in an environment with no formal training courses, and where many of the rules of traditional operations simply do not work.

Of course the term 'call centres' is really a misnomer. They are much more than that. They are Contact centres. Service centres. Customer centres. Hotdesks. Helplines. Technical support centres. Reservations operations. Sales centres. Cyber stores. E-commerce centres. The list goes on and on. They operate in an environment of rapidly developing technology, staffing pressures and demands and expectations of consumers that are evolving and developing as service standards improve globally.

There can be very few roles where the manager of a business unit does not have total control of either supply or demand. Supply, or staffing levels are subject to traffic jams, weather and 'flu. Demand or traffic volumes are controlled by the whim of that unpredictable beast, the consumer or customer. Or worse, by the marketing department that buys advertising without any reference to operations.

Where the original investment in call centres was on the promise of cost savings, call centres themselves are now under cost pressures, being asked to trim in any area they can. So call centres are in reality becoming conflict environments.

Before we examine the role of the call centre manager in detail, just think about this:

• You must cut the average call duration to save on staff costs
• You must increase the call duration to cross sell
• You are entrepreneurial, but it takes three months to grow and find staff
• You know you need more staff, but no one wants to work the hours that calls come in
• You would like to incentivise performance but the same people always win. What started as a meritocracy is now a bunch of winners and losers
• You know you must train people, but that takes people off the telephone
• Taking people off the telephone means you have to cut the call duration
• Marketing want you to gather lots of data, but that puts up the call duration
• Gathering data would help you sell more, but you don't have the people to do it
• You have service standards to deliver against, but selling impacts upon those standards.

Every week. Every day. Every hour. Tough, sure. Impossible, no. Demanding, definitely.

If that sets the scene and demonstrates the challenges faced by call centre managers, lets take a look at:

• the role itself
• finding people
• keeping and developing people
• motivating people
• environment

performance and measurement

Designing World-Class E-Learning
By Roger C. Schank
McGraw Hill
ISBN# 0071377727

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WHY E-LEARNING IS EXCITING

E-learning is an exciting idea, if you are excited for the right reasons. Here are some of mine:

• People hate training. With a passion. Viewed as a necessary evil by management and with disdain by employees who go through the process, training is a joke in many companies. It's also a costly joke, given the money and time invested in it. There has to be a better way to train people than replicating the educational model that schools rely on and that most intelligent observers and participants agree is broken. To do this, we need a vehicle. E-learning is that vehicle. It is the Trojan mouse of education. Build quality e-learning and they will come.
• People like whiz-bang technologies. People like the fact that multimedia is high-tech, glitzy, and fun to use. E-learning is beginning to catch on all over the world. The bad news is that much of the e-learning out there is no better than the old low-tech training; it just looks glitzier. Putting the CEO in an introductory video of a computer-based training program may make the CEO happy, but the trainee will be no less bored than if he were reading the same pronouncement. At least then he could skim the text. The good news is that, when done well, e-learning can be quite engaging, better than any teacher standing in front of a classroom could ever be.
• We can measure how bored people are on the Web. Curiously, people are less tolerant of bad education on the Web than they are of bad education in the classroom. I guess they are just used to being bored in school and don't take it too seriously. Anyhow, classroom training is an excuse to get away from the office for a while, maybe meet some new people. Since the Web has none of those advantages and since the web promises so much, it can be real disappointing to take a course on the Web, be bored to tears, and realize you’ve learned nothing. It’s easy enough to tell if people are actually spending time on the Web pages that constitute most e-learning systems, so it’s easy to tell that, for the most part, e-learning isn’t working too well right now. This, of course, presents a great opportunity. Let’s do it right.
• CEO’s love the Web. When the Web became widely available, it was suddenly seen as a cure-all for the world’s training woes. Training would be so much cheaper on the Web, the reasoning went. No need to build classrooms—training could be anytime, anywhere. Of course, this was true before the Web became commonplace. For many years it was possible to build high-quality training on a computer that could be delivered anytime, any where. The difference was that now the CEO was thinking about training. Of course he or she wasn’t thinking about the quality of training, just the expense of training. The Web is an important vehicle for training, but it is important to understand that low-quality Web-delivered training can be even worse than classroom training.
• Learning through simulations is almost as good as being there. Finally we can implement learn-by-doing solutions. Teachers had to lecture because there were so many students and so few teachers. There was no way to allow every student to go at his or her own pace, try out his or her own ideas, make mistakes, and try again. Now there is. The real value of e-learning is that it offers the possibility for many teachers and one student rather than the other way around. It allows the freedom to fail; or, to put this another way, it allows on-the-job training without the possibility of screwing up the company with some dumb mistake.

SOME EVEN MORE PRACTICAL REASONS WHY E-LEARNING IS EXCITING

The practical advantages of e-learning include:

• It's cheaper over time: Make the program once, even if it’s costly to do so, and you never have to make that investment again.
• It allows for failure without embarrassment: People react differently to new situations when they know no one is watching—they experiment.
• Do it once and it can be used anytime, anywhere: No longer will people “go for training” and waste time learning what they don’t need or already know.
• The same things happen each time: A company can control key experiences, creating a corporate culture and identifying which actual cases are the best to learn from.
• World-class experts can be the teachers if they have been videotaped: The best and the brightest deliver the training.

WHAT I REALLY THINK ABOUT COMPUTERS

Because so much of what I have to say about learning relates to computers, let's talk a bit about them. First, even if there were no such thing as a computer, it wouldn't change my views on how people learn. In fact, the existence of computers notwithstanding, a great way to learn is by looking over someone else's shoulder. You can't beat an apprenticeship for teaching you the ropes. Computer simulations are necessary because apprenticeships are impractical and learning on the job can be expensive and physically hazardous. To learn, you need an environment in which to learn. Constructing quality e-learning entails the construction of a virtual environment.

Unfortunately, most of what passes for e-learning has no more to do with learning than penmanship has to do with good creative writing. We were once talking to a company leader about designing an e-learning system, but the manager decided to go with another firm. This decision surprised us, not only because companies usually choose us over competitors but because this prospect had told us that our computer simulations seemed far more sophisticated and effective than those proposed by the other firm. Why then, we asked the prospective client, did he give our competitor his business? He replied, “Well, its computer software looked a lot like our old training. We didn't want to do anything too different that would rock the boat.” Let me be clear. Quality e-learning will rock the boat.

Cognitive Arts has created all types of simulations for its clients. Below is a sampling. For more on these and other e-learning projects we have undertaken, take a look at the full case studies in chapters 9-12.