Tuesday, October 7, 2014

September Procurements

Acquisitions are such a frequent occurrence these days that at the end of each month we are sure to face lots of exciting, eye-catching deals. September biggest acquisition cost $8.3 billion. It’s so interesting, when a company buys a startup for a “little” sum, we never know about the amount, but in case the deal cost $billions, it’s publicized everywhere.

September activists are Yahoo and Google with two acquisitions each. The list goes from Silicon Valley to biotechnology; mobile and games and lots of cloud, cloud and cloud. Let’s start with the first deal made by Genesys.

Genesys - the market leader in multi-channel customer experience and contact center solutions in the cloud and on-premises announced the acquisition of Singapore-based CanaPlus Consulting - a leading systems integrator that brings over a decade of expertise implementing Genesys solutions in the APAC region for large, multi-national financial services companies and other leading regional organizations.

Yahoo is buying Luminate, a startup founded in 2008 by LiveOps, Netscape and Yahoo alums that has created a platform for interactive, tagged images-or, as we have called it in the past, an AdSense for images.

Google has bought Lift Labs, the maker of a tremor-cancelling spoon aimed at improving the lives of people suffering from Parkinson’s and essential tremor. The acquisition marks a further move into the biotech industry for the Silicon Valley giant -and Google said it hopes to explore how the technology could be used in other ways to improve the quality of life of people with neurodegenerative diseases.

BlackBerry has acquired a UK-based mobile technology start-up whose software allows users to have multiple phone numbers on the same device. The purchase of Movirtu helps BlackBerry ramp up its portfolio of services to cater to the needs of its core base of corporate and government clients. Movirtu's virtual SIM technology allows an individual to have both a personal and business number on a single mobile device, with separate billing for voice, data and messaging usage on each number.

Google is bringing Polar over to Google+ in the hopes that the team behind the popular opinion-tracking service will be able to heat up Google's social network. Polar was founded approximately two years ago. Its current line of business, which it will be shutting down at the end of the year, is just what its name suggests: easy-to-use polls that can be filled out via various Web services and apps.

Microsoft announced it will buy Minecraft maker Mojang for $2.5 billion. The Mojang team will join Microsoft Studios, maker of popular video games Halo, Forza and Fable, among others.

German enterprise software vendor SAP SE announced that it will acquire Concur Technologies for $8.3 billion, marking it its biggest purchase ever. Concur Technologies is a leading provider of integrated cloud-based travel and expense management solutions who has over 20,000 clients around the globe and is accessed by over 25 million users. Through the acquisition, SAP intends to further strengthen its presence in the networked economy. 

Yahoo has bought Bangalore-based Bookpad, a startup that's barely a year old and founded by three youngsters who passed out of IIT-Guwahati over the past three years. Bookpad's enterprise software product, DocsPad, allows users to view any document (like PDF, Word, Powerpoint), as also edit and annotate it, within a website or app. It works across devices, and does not require downloading of plug-ins or desktop software.

Red Hat acquired OpenStack pioneer eNovance to help bolster its global OpenStack portfolio. eNovance a leading provider of open source cloud computing services. Combined with Red Hat's existing leadership in OpenStack, the addition of eNovance's systems integration capabilities and engineering talent is aimed at meeting growing demand for enterprise OpenStack consulting, design and deployment.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Smile and Make Your Customers Smile!

Today when it’s the World Smile Day I’d like to make all my readers realize how beautiful our life is and smile for a second. Smile, even if you’re very tired. Many people smile not because they are very happy, but to hide their sadness.


The idea of World Smile Day was initiated by Harvey Ball, a commercial artist from Massachusetts. He is known to have created the yellow smiley face in 1963. The world's first World Smile Day was held in 1999 and has been held annually since.

Good customer service starts with a smile

Smile is the inseparable component of a good customer service. Remember how many times you made your customers change their mood or even anger with just a little smile as most smiles are started by another smile. It costs nothing, but gives so much.


Even if you are an agent on the other side of the line, the customer feels your smile; it warms him and makes it possible for him to change his attitude towards you.

Smile plays magic!

Start your day with a smile and see how the magic begins to work. People smile back at you; you feel happier, and you also make others happier. 


Another magic of a smile:  “Every smile makes you a day younger”. Why not look younger and at the same time spread your positive mood on your family, friends, colleagues or customers. It’s the only thing that can fit all people, as everybody smiles in the same language.

Brighten your day with someone else’s smile!

What do I usually do to make my day? I follow the saying that became my motto: “If I could make someone laugh, my day will be complete”.


I’d like to brighten your day a little bit with some of my beloved quotations:

·         A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks ~Charles Gordy
·         A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you’re at home ~Unknown
·         A smile is the universal welcome ~Max Eastman
·         Keep smiling - it makes people wonder what you’ve been up to ~ Unknown
·         Smile! It increases your face value ~Robert Harling, Steel Magnolias
·         A smile is happiness you’ll find right under your nose ~Tom Wilson
·         The world always looks brighter from behind a smile~  Unknown  
·         If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it ~Andy Rooney
·         A smile takes but a moment, but the memory of it lasts forever~Anonymous
·         Smile with your lips, smile with your eyes, smile with your heart and your soul and your life ~Terri Guillemets


Imagine that your smile may become sunshine in somebody’s life. If you don’t have a smile I’m ready to give you one of mine!