Thursday, May 31, 2012

Data Governance -- Actionable Consulting

With lots of hype in the Data Management world about Data Governance (DG) as a program -- the most observed scenario is that DG programs failure even before they begin. There are many articles in many blogs articulating about DG program failure and I intended to write my experience in these lines. With the consulting experience in the area of Data Governance, I explored -- "rather discovered" many mistakes are made during the planning phases of DG program. I have taken quick minutes to write down in my blog so that, at Hexaware we take precautions to avoid these slipups during our consulting. To quickly give an idea on what is Data Governance -- it is all about governing the organization wide data to accomplish organization mission by putting personnel, policies, procedures, and organizational structures in place to make data accurate, consistent and secure.


Data Governance as a program should always be on the highest precedence in any business because of organizations must fulfill its business responsibilities, expectations and the legal requirements. The usual trend is that Data Governance program is initiated and executed as an IT initiative rather than a Business Initiative. CXOs awareness toward data governance is very important and it is strongly recommended that they drive their organization vision using data governance as a tool. As said, Data Governance requires more than just a few members of the IT staff with a project plan, rather it requires participation and commitment of IT & business management, as well as senior-level executive sponsorship and active consultation with stakeholders of interest.


As said, I would like to list below the most common mistakes in the industry which leads to the failure of DG program even before it starts.


Mistake 1 -- Partial / NO Participation from Stakeholders and Executive Leadership
It is important that DG steering committee spends considerable amount of time in preparing and coaching executive leadership team to really understand and believe that the value of DG is bigger than the cost. Preparing a DG program without having full support and understanding from executive management is a big mistake.


Mistake 2 -- No Awareness and Beliefs that Data Governance will help and resolve data problems
Perception towards Data Quality and Single Version of Truth has to be conjoint across the stakeholders and this would be the ultimate aim for any DG program. By not devoting adequate effort to help stakeholders understand how serious and valuable the DG is, How big value will be gained when the task is done and how much will be lost if we fail has to be properly communicated before we start a DG program.


Mistake 3 -- Lets's do a Proof of Concepts on DG
DG is always executed as a program and usually large in size. Ignoring that the DG is one solid program at the beginning making it a try-and-see program would end-up with a great failure. The best way could be to have a pilot scope for data re-architecting, data improvement part with choosing smaller database domains and avoiding reducing DG program scope.


Mistake 4 -- Data Governance Program can be Agile
It is always suggested to follow program design always as initial planning, executing, monitoring and controlling phases, do not skip any of these steps by terming DG as an Agile program. Avoid making it in small phases like typical web software projects. Setup a proper roadmap for the DG program. Sometimes organizations think they can tweak the roadmap, expert's metrics and change targets and deliverables so that they can save money. This could create a disordered situation and may require organization to pay additional cost to the consultants to govern the ungoverned DG program.


Mistake 5 -- DG as a Software Project
Always it is recommended to propose the DG program as a business initiative and not as a software project. Software is just an enabling medium to get it happen.


Mistake 6 -- DG AS A Short Term Initiative
Data Governance programs need to be active for organization's whole life term. To make this happen, organization should have the momentum increased, and understand clearly that Data Governance requires a lifecycle attention starting from the day one.


To conclude and keep this blog simple and short -- Data Governance (DG) as program possess a high beta value for failure and hence Data Governance as a program is more Fragile than Agile. Please handle it with care.


The writer is the Principal Consultant and Pre Sales Head -- Europe for Business Intelligence, Hexaware Technologies.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Exhilway Finance revokes investment in SMC Global

Exhilway Finance have rolled back investment plan with SMC Global ahead of cold response from management.
Exhilway Finance Canada's leading financial group have revoked investment plan in New Delhi, India based SMC Global thus ending there six months long talks. Exhilway Finance in September last year announced investment of US $10 million in SMC Global to expand arbitrage and broking business. "SMC's response to our offer was cold might be they have not received go ahead from there international investor Sanlam Group. Exhilway is positive on India and we may invest with mid sized broker in next few months" said Rahul Kumar, CEO, Exhilway Finance.

Monday, May 31, 2010

SMC Group becomes the first Indian company to attract 'Blank Cheque' investments from the U.S.

SMC Group (SMC), one of the leading brokerage outfits based in New Delhi, has earned the distinction of being the first Indian company to attract investment from a U.S.-based Blank Cheque Company. SMC has offered 14.9% stake in the Company, valued at Rs. 1.64 billion, to Millennium India Acquisition Company (MIAC), a blank cheque company based at New York. Singhi Advisors Ltd., one of the top 10 Indian corporate finance firms and investment banking boutiques, and the Kolkata-based Beejay investment & Financial Consultants Pvt Ltd were the advisors to the first-of-its-kind transaction.

The SMC Group (SMC Global and SAM Global) is a leading broking house having a pan India network of over 800 branches and has an investor base of over 2,50,000 clients. The Company provides equity and commodity-based products (research, equities, derivates, depository, etc.,) and has exchange memberships with major domestic and international equity and commodities exchanges. SMC is also one of the leading arbitragers in the country.

Mr. Subhash Chand Aggarwal, Founder and Chairman of SMC Group of Companies, said, “The funding will be used to expand the network further and to create greater value for our customers through advanced technology. Millennium India Acquisition would bring a wealth of knowledge through its international experience. Financial partnership with such a renowned international fund and extra resources will assist us in achieving faster growth.” He added, “The funds raised will be deployed for faster growth both organic, inorganic and working capital requirements. This is an exciting time for SMC Group — solidifying our financial foundation will allow us to grow further and realise our dreams.”

“SMC is built on the principles of transparency, honesty, and integrity and a rock solid commitment for excellence and relations that have made the Group a financial hub in one of the fastest growing emerging economies in the world,” said Mr. Mahesh Chand Gupta, Co-Founder and Director of SMC.

Mr. F. Jacob Cherian, President and CEO of MIAC, said, “SMC is a fast-growing company in India with long-term strategy, an established presence and significant expansion potential. We look forward to working with the dedicated and professional team of SMC to help the Company accelerate its growth through access to capital this transaction provides.”

Mr. Cherian added, “The Indian stock broking business is passing through a vibrant phase. Foreign private equity players are picking up stake in the Indian securities brokerage firms but more and more foreign players are making direct entry into the industry. Millennium India Acquisition, which recently raised US$ 58 million, intends to focus on privately-owned businesses within the financial services, healthcare, infrastructure, consumer retail and hospitality sectors that offer innovative cross-border growth opportunities.”

SMC provides equity & commodity-based products (research, equities, derivates, depository, etc.,) and has exchange memberships with major domestic and international equity and commodities exchanges including BSE, NSE, MCX, NCDEX and DGCX, Dubai. SMC was established by the Mr. Subash Aggarwal & Mr. Mahesh Gupta in early 1990’s. SMC has achieved a significant presence in retail broking and has recently started IPO (ranked as the seventh largest entity today) and insurance products distribution and merchant banking activities.

Millennium India Acquisition is a blank cheque company based at New York, and listed on Amex. It has recently raised US$ 58 million and is currently headed by Mr. Jacob Cherian and Mr. Suhel Kanuga, who have worked in the financial services division of CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation), a Fortune 500 company that is touted as the world’s third largest Information Technology (IT) solutions company.

Friday, May 21, 2010

SMC Global gets Secrets to manifest 10, 000 Cr. Target- Law of Attraction workshop by ArtIntelligence

SMC Global gets Secrets to manifest 10, 000 Cr. Target- Law of Attraction workshop by ArtIntelligence

Every corporation follows this, no matter big or small but the winners are only those who know how to transfer this knowledge to their every employee, no exceptions. Yes Law of Attraction is working for your corporation as well all the time; if you are a business entrepreneur or a corporate leader then pay attention to this as you got your think tank and your think tank has subconscious mind and hence their decision making ability is getting affected at certain times when they are in feel bad state and this time Law of Attraction would work against you. So it is better to have your team this knowledge.

Success and Prosperity come as a result of doing things in a certain way. But what are those; how you and your corporation can take maximum advantages of these natural universal laws? The Law of Attraction - how we attract things to us by our thoughts. But to use that law we have to first understand The 1st Law - The Law of Vibration - which is that everything in the universe has a vibration and we have the ability to alter the vibration. In order to do this we need to understand what we are and who we are.

As humans we have six abilities - Perception. Will, Reason, Intellectual, Intuition & Wisdom. But we did not get education to empower all these skills at school, college or corporate level that’s why we make difficult decision in our life which brings difficult results We teach them about themselves and showed them how to learn about the root cause of what they did, how to understand the thought mechanism that was behind it, and then change their personality.
Most corporations work on analysis reports to monitor their employees or human resources and then order training to increase their performances but all these analysis and training are focused on the effect but what about the cause; We work to remove that cause as every human being has got tremendous potential to overcome his or her difficult situation; that’s what I mentioned in my book Law of Attraction – Channel Chang says Mr. Manish Sinha (Managing Director, ArtIntelligence Learning Systems)

Very inspirational; something I never felt before. Mr. Manish Sinha has delivered more than what we expected says Mr. Vineet Kumar Goyal (AVP Brand Promotion, SMC Global). Mr. Sinha you have come out with different sort of training and help us to visualize our hidden potential says Alok Garg. I wish him all the best for his future endeavors as he has taken a bold step to educate people about how to achieve success- Vikas Ranjan. It has given me good insight for my children. I feel I can use it to focus & inspire my children says Deepa Mohamad (Manager HR, SMC Global)

These were the reaction of participants after a 4 hours training session on Law of Attraction and money manifestation techniques. The problem is people has too much of information but they do not know how to use this information to make application of this information and those who are able to make it they will definitely make a difference and make their presence felt across the globe summed up Mr. Sinha.

About ArtIntelligence-

ArtIntelligence has corporate headquarter in Delhi. The Company is focused towards enterprise clients – ranging from medium to large sized corporate entities. The Company offers end-to-end solutions by unifying its four clearly defined LOA based courses: Law of Attraction – Channel Change (LOA), Personal Development (PD), Business Development (BD) and Corporate Development (CD).

About SMC-

SMC Group, a leading financial services provider in India is a vertically integrated investment solutions company, with a pan-India presence. Over the Years, SMC has expanded its domestic as well as international operations. Existing network includes regional offices at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Cochin, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Hyderabad plus a growing network of more than 1800 offices across over 400 cities/towns in India. SMC has plans to grow its network to 5,000 offices across 700+ cities in the next 3 years. SMC has a highly efficient workforce of over 6,000 employees & one of the largest retail network in India currently serving the financial needs of more than 5,50,000 satisfied investors.

SMC has entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Sanlam Group, one of the largest listed financial services group in South Africa for setting up wealth Management and Asset Management business in India, Sanlam is operating in over 30 countries globally including UK, USA, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Dublin, Australia and others.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

SMC Group (India) Launches Online Trading Services with PNB: An Alliance of Trust and Technology

SMC Global (India) one of the leading broking house in India has launched its online trading services with PNB. Now consumers can enjoy the convenience of investing in financial products from the comfort of their home / offices by using SMC Global's website, also online trading link in provided on bank's website at pnb website. Newspaper Coverages

SMC Global's CMD Shri SC Aggarwal and CEO-NSBL Shri Ranjan Dhawan after signing agreement with Dr KC Chakrabarty CMD, PNB, says, "We always believed consumer is king and our new 3-in-1 offering at competitive rate is just a natural next step."

SMC Group has its strong in-house research team of analysts, which periodically comes out with comprehensive market reports on equities, commodities, mutual funds, insurance, etc. The web portal www.smcindiaonline.com is already working on secure transaction processing system and now this new alliance is a further boost for it.

"I am a small time businessman and investing my hard saved money in this volatile market was very challenging for me. Now after 2 years of association with SMC, I must say I made a right decision and as they say money wise bewise," says Mr Mohit Sharma one of the happy investor.

Mr SC Aggarwal, CMD, SMC global added, "It is in fact a win-win alliance for PNB, SMC and for the clients too. Through this alliance, now 40 million PNB customers can access our state - of - art online trading services which would be available at huge network of 4600 + branches of PNB and supported by SMC network of 1500 offices over 350 cities. In addition to the existing huge customer base of the bank, the alliance would equally and aggressive target the acquisition of new generation customer group by offering top of the class technologies product."

About SMC Global, India:

SMC Group is a leading full fledged financial services provider in India and overseas, offering institutional and retail brokerage of equity, commodity, currency and derivatives trading, on-line trading services, Portfolio and Wealth Management services, investment banking, clearing & depository services, IPOs, Mutual funds and insurance products (both life & general).

Over the years, the group has expanded its domestic & international operations. Existing SMC network includes regional offices at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Cochin, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Hyderabad plus over 1500 offices across 350+ cities in India. The company has also expanded internationally, and has established office in Dubai, becoming a member of the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX). SMC has got the membership of all the leading equity, commodity, currency, depositories & spot exchanges of India. Currently SMC has a highly efficient workforce of over 3500 employees and over 7500 financial advisors serving the financial needs over of more than 550,000 loyal customers.

Achievements:
2nd largest distributor of IPO in retails
4th largest brokerage house in India
Fastest Growing Retail Distribution House in Financial Services in India

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Millennium India Acquisition Company Announces Joint Venture Between SMC Group and Sanlam Investments

Millennium India Acquisition Company, Inc. ("MIAC") (Nasdaq: SMCG) today announced that SMC Group has entered into joint venture agreements (JV) with Sanlam Investments, the investment arm of South African financial services firm, Sanlam Group. The agreement between the parties calls for setting up two new businesses in India -- a wealth management company and an asset management company. Both will be well placed to take advantage of the
immense growth opportunities in India.

Founded in 1918, Sanlam Group is the second largest listed financial services group in South Africa, with a market capitalization of $7.7 billion (December 2007), and with total assets under management and administration of $77.8 billion.

S.C. Aggarwal, Chairman and managing director, SMC said, "I am as elated as all my colleagues in SMC Group and Sanlam Group are about this landmark deal. SMC is currently the fourth largest IPO distributor in the retail category in India and we are also the fourth largest in terms of trading terminals. Our customer base exceeds 400,000 -- and this is growing
at 10,000 new accounts per month. Following this JV, the Indian financial services space will see the further rise and transformation of SMC from our position as one of the largest securities brokerage firms into a well diversified financial company, with enormous global reach and intellectual know-how in line with international best practices."

The deal was made possible through an equity acquisition into the SMC group of companies, including warrants, which will ultimately create a 5% equity stake for Sanlam Investments in SMC Group. The total financial investment by Sanlam Investments on this joint venture with SMC, as the warrants are exercised and the new businesses are capitalised, is expected
to be in the region of USD 47 million. (For convenience, the exchange rate used is $1 = Rs 45.79, as of September 16 2008). Initially, Sanlam will invest Rs 103 crore (approximately $22.5 million), with the option to increase its investment to a total of Rs 215 crore (approximately $47
million), at an enterprise valuation for SMC Group of Rs 3,100 crore (approximately $677 million).

Johan van der Merwe, CEO of Sanlam Investments says, "This is the first step in our India investment strategy and a springboard for further expansion into the continent. For us it is a bold step into one of the biggest markets in the world and a transaction that is in line with our
international expansion strategy of furthering our business scope into promising markets outside of South Africa. SMC is a young and vibrant business with a large client base catering to all classes of investors. Although SMC is well known for its extensive pan-India experience, its personal touch and easy accessibility to investors across the country impressed us."

Van der Merwe adds, "Our projections show that if we capture only between 2 and 5 percent of the expected $1 trillion market by 2015, our business in India could contribute a significant portion to group profits."

Mahesh C. Gupta, Vice Chairman and managing director, SMC said, "Consistent with our strategy, this partnership enables us to focus on our client and distribution strengths and we will be able to leverage off Sanlam's recognised strengths in asset management product knowledge, global reach and governance processes. This is an excellent opportunity to establish a leading presence in India -- a strategic priority for us -- and to accelerate our growth. In addition, the JV will allow us to expand our product range with new high-quality investment products and provide a framework in which we can develop a true asset management culture for our
investment activities."

SMC and Sanlam have applied for regulatory approvals needed for the twin businesses, after which the transaction would be completed, and the companies would launch their products.

F. Jacob Cherian, Chairman and CEO of MIAC said, "Wealth management is an exciting new market opportunity in India. Boston Consulting Group research projects managed assets in India to grow from $170 billion to over $1 trillion by 2015. We firmly believe that the individually strong brands of SMC and Sanlam, coupled with the experienced teams, will set new standards in the financial services space in India and contribute enormously to the success of this new venture in tapping this opportunity."

Suhel Kanuga, President and CFO of MIAC said, "This transaction ratifies our belief in the core strength of the SMC Group franchise, its experienced leadership team, and the large growth potential in India. Despite the global turmoil in the financial markets, the Indian economy which is largely driven by domestic consumption, continues to grow at impressive levels. In fact, the Business Standard in India reported on September 1 this year, that 15 of the top 20 pension funds in the world have registered in India over the last 7 or 8 months alone, indicating that
India remains an attractive investment destination."