Application: No more a pillion-rider

GURGAON, INDIA: When you provide all the insight and support an individual client needs for applications around BI, CRM, ERP etc, it becomes interesting to be on the consumer side of IT too. A smart shepherd always knows lot better about the pitfalls, the hidden traps and the secret fountains than a lost tourist. Kapil Mehrotra, Head Applications, iYogi Technical Services sits at one such vantage point. He helps us navigate the terrain of applications and Build Vs Buy IT edges with a new pair of sneakers, sans all the heels.

Does looking at IT change when you are in the seat of a consumer?

It is more or less same, not much of a difference. The way you pull data and analyse is pretty much similar.

What would you pick as game-changers if you were to give perspectives from both the sides?

From the point of view of iYogi, we have been catering to individual clients (unlike the usual corporates that other vendors target) through a subscription model and both voice-based and remote-based services. In India, we see portals and e-commerce market picking up slowly but firmly. We are looking into that with a lot of interest. Another side or perspective makes me believe that mobile and new mobile applications would be real game-changer in the coming times. So is cloud computing. The point that people are skeptical about it is a myth. Lot of services around it have started coming and a lot of adoption would be witnessed.

With applications as your own area of expertise, would you agree that applications would put other technology pieces and black boxes into the back seat? What is going to matter more- the boxes or the so-called glamorous, fun but insignificant bubble-wrap of applications?

Well, applications have to be run on some kind of hardware. Networking infrastructure or security etc would continue that way. It’s hard to spend Rs.15 to 20 crores on core applications including the hardware. If you ignore hardware, it fails. But the approach will change drastically. It would be about planning your application so that less hardware costs happen or some sort of provisioning is done. That calls for an end-t-end programme. If an application is taken for an initial set of 1000 users, it has to be planned for a slightly higher user base so that hardware capacity is scaled up or down with better flexibility and lesser incremental expenses.

How?

Everyone uses tools based on requirements. Originally starts from requirements to have an idea as to what kind of application is needed and what for. I would say in-house IT provisioning is wrong.

Why?

It takes a lot of effort and time and every company is not a software expert. The long-term maintenance costs, robustness and manageability issues can really be a challenge. So one should buy thirty to 60 per cent of their requirements from an expert and gradually build expertise and customizations once a comfort level is achieved. Initially compromising is a better option for the big picture.