After a long evaluation process, PTCL seems to have sided with the Germans and kicked out the Americans…atleast as far as company automation software is concerned. In what is a multi million dollar implementation project, PTCL has decided to drop Oracle, (withIBM Business consulting services as implementation partners) and gone with SAP. I’m sure the sales guys at Siemens are jumping with joy and the functional consultants are all trying to get their vacation time cashed in before what is to be possibly the largest SAP implementation to date starts.
This was a huge deal, both in terms of money and in terms of market dominance. One of the largest companies in Pakistan have opted to move with SAP instead of Oracle, sending a strong signal that in the end, the Pakistani Enterprise software market is beginning to look more and more like the ones in Europe and the US, where the largest customers go for SAP with clients running Windows machines, the middle tier usually opts for Oracle, and the SMB area is up for grabs by a host of players. Having said that though, the number of companies without sound processes and automation in Pakistan is enormous, and this area is just being tapped. Given our markets tendency to “follow the leader, but just do it as cheaply as possible”, the SAP win gives SAP/Siemens/Abacus a huge amount of credibility – IF they actually can tame and implement their system in such an organization like PTCL. FIrst of all though as soon as they are done with the finance module I’m sure all of Siemen’s PTCL lines will stop working 
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October 20th: The final bids were submitted by companies competing for the federal data center contract. Bidders included Si3, Infotech, and Nadra among others.
The multimillion dollar project, managed by the EGD envisions a central data center for all the e-government applications run by the Pakistan Federal government,
Stay tuned to see how this long tale turns out. This is a followup post to this one below
http://mohtashim.wordpress.com/2006/08/16/ah-theres-my-data-center-or-is-it/
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As the week closes and we have 3, yes 3 eids in this country (talk about miscoordination!) , I also will take a break from blogging and will return on the weekend (just in time to be on your screen Monday morning hopefully!) . As new week comes, I’ll write about the E-government Data Center tender, for which bids were submitted right before Eid, and about the Mari Gas content management project.
Thank you for reading, and…keep reading! Eid Mubarak,
MA
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…And after an absence of a few days I am back!
Beliscity.com, one of the more well known online shopping sites here in Pakiland , recently got a UI change, a much needed one in fact, It now actually follows best practices for online shops somewhat, and reminds one of buy.com or amazon when you look at the site. They also are now offering free shipping across Pakistan, helps if you are out of Karachi, but since most of beliscity’s customers are karachi based, I assume they are trying to reach out to the other cities now as well. In addition to the electronics and computers/gadgets , Beliscity is also trying its hand at selling other items now (cellphones, toys, even lighters!).
I personally have never ordered from them (not yet anyway) , even though they spam me with offers now and then, to explore the site, visit below :
http://beliscity.com/default.aspx?did=0
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The Sindh government recently released a tender for a comprehensive Hospital ERP system (also know as an HMIS, Hospital Information Management System) for Civil Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in the country. Civil, as its mostly known has the largest number of incoming patients in Karachi on any given day and by and large runs on a completely manual system. The multi-crore valued tender calls for a vendor that has deployed similar HMIS systems in atleast 7-10 hospitals of similar size, and the inclusion of a PACs imaging component, thereby destroying any hopes of a locally built solution to be installed here, even though there are many.
What is good news is that the government has woken up to reality : Hospitals need robust HMIS systems to properly treat patients. Several private hospitals in Pakistan already run their own HMIS solutions, the largest and most notable being Agha Khan Hospital’s. Liaquat National has also contracted with Kalsoft for a system but news is that the project is on rocky ground so far. I hope the contract goes to a vendor with a local software solution though, not one that comes from abroad (which in Civil’s case seems like it will be a foreign software solution). We need to build up our own expertise, not import expensive software. We need to train our own people. If thats “reinventing the wheel” then lets reinvent it. Atleast we’ll learn how its done.
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Amaana.com, what i like to call “our” version of Paypal has recently launched a refferal program to sign on users to its beta program. Refer someone to Amaana, and if they sign on you get rewards, such as money (Rs 25) or from what I hear, pre paid airtime. Its a good idea, they’ve got alot of users signed on, and this helps them put the actual product through its paces and resolve the issues they have been having with it before a formal launch.
Amaana has been around for more than a year, promising to make the dream of paying someone through your cellphone a reality. I get geeky goose bumps thinking I can pay my friends back for the lunch they bought me by using my cellphone! The business model has got immense potential, especially in our country where most people do not use a credit card online. Provided they get their product off the ground as soon as possible, they can be really successful…though the beta test has lasted several months now.
To sign on for the beta and try the service out go here:
https://www.amaana.com/beta/getHome.do
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I guess those hundreds of servers are finally becoming more than an eye-soar and an IT management nightmare for UBL. The search is on for a viable server consolidation strategy, and UBL is not the only one looking for such a solution. The answer? VMware, probably, though I dont know of any VMware gurus in pakistan, not even someone who might be certified to use GSX server or the server load balancing product.
I use VMare workstation heavily for my rapid test enviroments, and having complete servers that are essentially files does have huge advantages, but there also comes a significant performance loss due to the extra layer between the hardware and your OS kernel. Lets see what UBL finally decides to do.
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This will be all over CNET and the IT world tomorrow..but You heard it here first! As of October 9th 1:30 pm Pacific Time, Google has bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in an all stock deal.
YouTube has 65 employees and was founded in early 2005. Thats 1.65 billion dollars of value generated in less than 2 years!! Yahoo was the second closest bidder..but didnt win the deal in the end. Youtube, if you dont know already, is a very popular online video sharing site, link below:
http://youtube.com
This is what I am talking about when I keep saying an innovative web application can change the world. With the right guidance, a company like YouTube could have come right out of Karachi.
Google is hosting a conference call and live webcast right now. You can join in here:
http://investor.google.com/webcast.html
For details, visit Techcrunch:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/09/google-has-acquired-youtube/
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IBM Global Business services (formerly IBM Business Consulting Services) recently wrapped up their NTC study project. The project included an AS-IS study and some BPR work for the fast up and coming telecom company. NTC provides services similar to PTCL, albeit on a smaller scale. They are known though for their great service, however as the company grows the need to install an ERP system seems to have grown as well, which is when IBM was asked by NTC’s management to dive in and do a study and suggest the best ERP solution after the As-is report was complete.
Rumours are that Oracle is a favourite, but now there is doubt as to the project’s future given some changes in management. In 90% of ERP implementation projects, the change management effort has to be directed to the end user of the system. Most ERP implementations fail not because of a technical shortcoming of the software product but most noticeably because top management gives into the collective resistance of the company’s employees to the change. For any ERP project to be successful, top management has to support it till the very end and stand by the IT team doing the project, for each module, not just the financials module!!
Lets see if NTC’s management is upto the task.
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