Ordinary man beats Software Engineers by hacking Indian Passport website

Till date hackers were the one who were in news for hacking various websites for one reason or other. But yesterdays news about an ordinary man hacking Indian Passport website was a shock for most of us. Biggest surprise factor was that it went unnoticed for 4 months at stretch. This incident has raised questions about the credibility of India's websites and the way they are handled.

Luckily this guy didn't use the database India would have been in a difficult situation. Most IT companies in India and abroad had hired Software Engineers of Indian origin, due their intelligence and smartness.But seems like Indian software engineers are not able to safeguard their nations crucial websites. This incident is an example of it.

One question which pondered me after going through the news was "Isn't it a shame for Indian's globally?" Why aren't Indian brains willing to serve India, when they are ready to render their services globally? Such instances will have adverse effect on them and raise question about their ability to perform.

When a nations National websites is hacked by an ordinary man, one can just think about the security measured adopted the country in safeguarding the interest of its citizens. Specially in a country like India which is prone to terror attack any time. Who should be held responsible for it? Will this issue also subside like other incidents which rocked nation in past?

Whats you stand on this sensationalizing issue?

What does employees look forward to " Job Profile or Salary"

Understanding the ideology of employees is a tricky job as it keeps changing as he grows up in his career. No doubt money is always the motivating factor but Job profile also do matter in the long run. Money requirement matters in the initial years of career, the reason for it is that they want to earn well and settle first. That's the reason why some youngster join BPO at early stages of their career and later try to shift out of it.

Job profile is something which matters a lot to an individual when it comes to showcasing his credentials in front of his colleagues. Working on an interesting profile can get you easy recognition, along with better growth prospect. Interesting profile can help individuals to groom themselves in an effective manner. But before accepting any profile individuals need to check whether his job revolve around his educational qualification.

Getting a profile in alignment to one qualifications is a tough job, very rarely people find right job for them. But such profiles come with a small disadvantage i.e money. Most of the time it is seen that interesting profile with lower package but give ample opportunity for individuals to grow in career.

Sometime people find job according to their career but at a later stage of life when they look forward for a change in career they find it difficult. Reason for it could be either they are not able to find a job in the same profile or the money offered to them is too less. Then what should people do in such situation?

Should they settle in for less salary or wait for the right opportunity to come so that they can get a profile matching to their caliber.. What's your stand on this issue?

Getting a flayer of sales " My first sales meeting"

Sales person are always in demand as they are the one who generate revenue for company, hence have final say in companies affairs. Selling is a tricky job everybody can't do it, though people claim selling is an easy task. Their is no fixed trick for sale, which can help us win a deal. Its situational most of the time but ya its a challenging job for sure.

My first sales meeting was no different from others, was bit nervous obviously, went through all documents and reached the venue before time. My colleague had fixed up the appointment so things were bit smooth for me. Client was expecting me so we moved to their meeting room. First we did was exchange of cards, then moved on to business.

Client had more quires than I expected and found it bit tough to convince them on few things initially but as we proceed things getting into place and finally they were confirmed the deal. Couldn't believe I closed a deal but was true. This meeting was a learning experience for me in many way I came to know about those things which often didn't get noticed most of the time by the employees working in an organization but is in the eyes of outsiders.

It did give me confidence to move further but I am still not confident enough to move ahead thinking all my meeting will yield same success as this one. Am looking forward to learn a sure shot formula which could be applied to my sales meeting and could walk home happily with deal closed.

Not only me but all sales guys have the same dilemma and they keep trying to figure out new ways to close every deal they approach for..

Should employees be loyal to their employers?

A question which haunts both employers and employees, should they trust each other or not? As said an employee may love his employer, but can't say when employers may show him the door out. Change is a big challenge for both employer and employee.

From an employers prospective is any of his employee quits, he need to find a suitable candidate for the same post as early as possible. With each passing day employer is loosing on business, which can't continue for long. Even when they find a new person for the post, he may also take sometime to understand about the firm and operation to know it in a better way.

For employees joining a new firm is always a challenge because they need to adjust with many new things like place, people, their cabin, working pattern and many others. On top of that they have immense pressure to perform well for retaining their job. If a new employee is not able to perform well within specified period of time, he may be thrown out.

Even then both employees and employers are willing to ditch each other at any given point of time, why? Answer to this question may come out with concrete solution to one of the major problem of the organization. But to reach up to an y conclusion both parties need to compromise on few things, that can happen only then when an employee starting think from the perspective of employer and vice versa.

"Loyalty can't be bought by money, it has to be earned" this is one thing which both employer and employees need to keep in mind. That's the reason why few employees are not willing to part with their current employer even if they get good package outside.

What have you decided to stick on or move further? Any decision be cautious and firm about it.

Does company's website affect sales?

If we call today's generation as tech oriented it won't be wrong due to the addiction they have towards internet. All our quires are just a mouse click away, thanks to google.com, world's best search engine. Accessibility to internet is very handy these days, people prefer to use it to save time and take accurate decisions.

Most companies today have a website of their to let their prospective customer have a rough idea about their product and services, it is binding to all industries ranging from IT, Education, Hotels, Retail outlets to name a few. Once a website is created some companies doesn't do much change in it, content on websites are not updated at regular interval about firms development and achievement in past.

People are more inclined towards those things which are presented well to them, "well presented is half sold". Even after knowing this fact firms are not willing to invest money on their websites by taking help from online marketing professionals. But they don't mind if they are get business from their website but won't do anything to enhance it, to increase its reach.

Those firms who are investing money to modify their website at periodic interval are able to be more close to their prospective clients, customers etc. Reason for it that an individual can come to know about their the firm and its operation from the websites and can compare the same with others. A firm which is transparent and presentable on its website is more likely to cling deals than others.

In today's busy world nobody has time to visit places one on one, to collect information about things they are looking for, they get a list from Internet, note down contact details, call them to clarify the doubt, shortlist few, make person visit to the most promising one and get what they want.

I think its high time that firms realize the importance of their official website and start working on it religiously before its too late. If a firm doesn't want to invest anything on its website since inception its better to pull it down than hampering ones goodwill. Don't forget "goodwill once lost can't be retained back soon". It takes ages to build goodwill but seconds to destroy it. So be wise and act accordingly.

Being an online marketing professional it hurts me when I see some website who have developed it just for the sake of developing it, ignoring about the disaster it can bring to them in future. We can't fool today's generation, so better we upgrade ourselves to their expectation and standards.

Has recession come to an end?

Newspapers are flooded with articles on regarding recovery of market leading to new job opportunity but reality far to be seen. Though recruiting has picked up but still candidates are finding it difficult to place them in the profiles as desired by them. This implies to both freshers and experienced people.

Some people in mode of desperation are selecting wrong profiles or taking whatever is coming their way. They are those people who were laid off during recession and had to take rest. Now companies are finding it difficult to retain performing employees with them. They are luring employees by giving hikes, promoting them, making work time flexible to name a few. This doesn't apply to all companies, only few come under this category.

Those firms who were good to their employees during recession by putting forward unrealistic demands need not worry at all with boom. Their employees won't leave them expect in extreme situations. Because today employees want to stick with firm who recognize their work and efforts. Money is definitely the motivating factor but if an employee is satisfied by his profile and work he can compromise on it even.

Many people who are fed up with their current employer are looking out for a change buy not getting what they are looking forward to? Making them desperate to figure out the causes of failure to procure a good job. They are caught up in dilemma about what will happen next?

Whom has boom actually effected is the question freshers / experienced? I feel none both have not been able to get what they want until they are ready to settle for anything which come their way.

Is Marketing all about selling?

Their has been lot of confusion in the minds of individuals as well as organizations when it comes to hiring marketing professionals. "Marketing professionals are not direct sales personnel, they assist sales indirectly". Marketing begins much before the actual product is out for sale and continues even after the goods have been sold. Selling helps in generating revenues for business to meet up it expenses but the importance of marketing should not be sidelined, as its continuous process but people remember it only at times of crises.

A good once sold in market can't guarantee to sustain and retain its customer base in the long run, with no change in it. Its the marketing professional who come out with new and innovate marketing strategy to be ahead of their competitors. Customers today get carried away by those with which they are able to relate themselves with. Selling just focuses on get things sold out in market but marketing focus on developing product to be sold in market.

Best example of it - When diary milk came out with the ad campaign " Aaj pehli tariq hain" meaning you can have diary milk on 1st of every month when you get salary. Munch came out with new add to stating " you can have munch any day of the month not only on 1st".

Both "diary milk" & "munch" have hold in market but then also they keep fighting with each other to enter into others territory. They do such marketing campaign to create a goodwill for their product in market which will ultimately effect their sales. "At the end customer buys those things which see more frequently & keep hearing about it". Why do companies forget this fact?

Such notion have led to lot of confusion among MBA students which way to go "marketing or sales". They can't differentiate between sales / marketing and land into wrong job profiles. Then prefer to stick to it as a performer but an achiever. Very few people have the courage to change the profile when they know their track is wrong.

So next time when you hear about "marketing /sales" be clear about its meaning and reach...