A couple of dedications...

People, give it up for Three Doors Down!


Here without you





All I think about is you

What have I been doing?

Management Information Systems at Texas A&M University, College Station.

Yes, the Wild West is where I am, and am aiming to be one of those fightin’ Texas Aggies! This place is steeped in traditions; virtually every yard of the 5,200 acres (21 sq. km) campus has some sort of history associated with it.

Coming off three years at Cognizant, this was my decision to push my career forward. Of course, there are other reasons too, but this one ranks #1 :).

It has been a challenging three months, and as I look back… time seemed to whiz by. Before I realized what was happening, I find myself nearing the end of Fall. A lot of new things learnt, both on the professional and personal front. Every day is a new experience. I like it.

More to come...
I need to work on some things that are due this week :) LOL!

Listening to: Ode to my family, The Cranberries
Yes, I miss them!

Chalo Houston!

We weren't really sure of what to expect... a field trip to BMC software they said... and it was a name we had hardly ever heard. I wasn’t really sure of what to expect, but the fact that we were going to Houston was enough to make me wake up with just four hours of sleep on me.

We were scheduled to start pretty early, and as expected, most of the junta failed to turn up on time. I was on time! :) Yeah, most of those who know me will be surprised to see this, but all thanks to my roomie and neighbor who were intent on making sure I wasn’t among the latecomers this time! Ultimately ended up starting 9 minutes late, with a lot of people still on their way, making desperate calls urging us to wait. Our senior faculty were having none of that. Off we went. Time 7.39AM

(Scene cuts to Houston)

Time 9.09AM

Exactly 9 minutes late. Impressive, I thought and told myself that the driver drove really fast.

Once we got off the bus, the experience starts. Mellisa and another staff member are there to welcome us. We are led straight to the Executive Briefing Center (EBC as it’s called). It’s very very slick and we're informed that there are only a handful of companies that actually have a EBC of their own... it’s a costly proposition and not everyone gets to own one. This particular EBC at BMC has won numerous awards including best briefing center this year. Now, that should tell you what we were experiencing. We were being ushered into the premier briefing center in the world, and that aint no daily occurrence!

Once inside, the attention to detail simply blows you away. The smallest things have been taken care of, as we learnt through the day. Even the positioning of a clock has lot of thought put into it, and for an lay-man, it would never strike at first glance.

We were treated like a top level executive from a fortune 50 firm would have.

The EBC has all of its seminar rooms and conference rooms named after rivers in Texas. Rio Grande, Lavaca, Guadalupe were some that I recollect. Each room is so impressive that apparently the first client that visited the EBC finalized a multi-million dollar deal here. :)

The Texan effect doesn’t stop with room names. The company was established in Houston and one of the founders was a cartographer. The walls of the EBC are lined with framed maps that date back to when Houston was a small town in the 1800s. Some of these maps are valued at millions of dollars, and is all the more reason for the EBC being a high security zone, and is something not everyone has access to. Infact, only a handful of the 6000 odd workforce has access and the Vice President is not a part of that group! An intricately carved handmade leather saddle sits in one of the corners. This was a gift to an ex-CEO and only re-emphasizes to the clients that they are in cowboy country. Really liked this!

As we walk around the facility, we are constantly amazed at how the little things have been taken care of. In the words of the person who manages all these things... 'We dot all our i's and cross all our t's'. So true!

The rear projection screen on which most of the presentations were made was huge. I would love to have that room to myself as I imagine myself watching a movie or playing on a Playstation on that screen! My dreams get extravagant by the day… and places like these don’t help the cause.

Alright, back to reality.

The time that is spent on making such a visit a success is not a day or two. There is a great deal of planning involved and every little thing has to be personalized, including the carpet color and intensity of lighting needed. Several plasma TVs that line the hallways play videos of customers vouching for the products that BMC offers. And these customers are no pushovers or small-timers. These are the big names, the kind that run economies… that dictate politics.

Lunch is a pleasure, needless to mention, served by tuxedo clad waitresses. It overlooks the main gymnasium and food-court as prospective customers can see employees happy at what they do. Small things make a big difference. BMC leaves no stone unturned in making the customer feel like king. In the words of the Vice President, 'a person can forget what they saw or heard, but they will never forget about how they felt'. Yes, I have been mentioning the Vice President, Mary Nugent quite a few times. She was with us through the day, taking time off her hectic schedule. Now... now… How many people would be willing to do that? Each presentation was unique and the presenters (discussion leaders, as they're called) were the best in their domains. These folks had come out of their corner offices only to present to a bunch of graduates from their alumnus, Texas A&M. That feeling is really special!

It ended with a brief goodbye message from Mary and we were escorted out, mission truly accomplished. If I were a customer, I would've closed a deal right there, by signing on the dotted line! :P

On board the bus, I couldn’t help but notice that the clock said 3:09PM. We were still 9 minutes schedule. That's when it hit me. That's the moment I realized how meticulously planned the entire event was. And no, I am not exaggerating here. Every minute was accounted for.

(Back at campus)

Time: 4.38PM.

The bus rolls to a halt, delayed by 8 minutes. The driver managed to gain a minute on the return leg.

How's that for time sense!