1) TCS dons new hat: Transforms de Bono For Digital Age

TCS Creativity & Innovation Lab Creates Unique Solutions for Business Transformation

In a strategic move that adds a unique facet to its consulting services, Tata Consultancy Services, Asia's largest IT services company, has teamed up with Dr Edward de Bono and de Bono Thinking Systems (dBTS) to offer solutions to organisations to aid business transformation
TCS has also registered another global first by developing de Bono Thinking 24x7 (dBT 24x7) - a digital version of de Bono's Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking techniques to help customers apply them in their daily professional life. dBT 24x7 is an "anytime-anywhere" solution for enterprises that allows users to collaborate and apply de Bono's proven techniques from the comfort of their desks, regardless of their physical location.
dBT 24x7 helps facilitate creativity, sustain innovation and is an excellent tool to guide effective thinking within an organisation. While the product helps get the maximum out of an intelligent mind, it also allows an enterprise spread across different geographical locations to collaborate and think on any defined focus area. In addition, dBT 24x7, serves as a knowledge repository of thinking for future reference and reuse.
In India, companies that have already benefited from de Bono's techniques to unleash innovation and creativity within their enterprises include, Hero Honda, Danfoss, Samsung, Zee Telefilms, Eicher Motors, ION Exchange and Tata Motors.

2) Welcome to the global village

The internet has arrived in Pinjavakkam - a village with only 500 residents, intermittent electricity and five telephone lines
SEGAYA SHALINI is an unlikely internet entrepreneur. She lives in Pinjavakkam, a village of about 500 people 100 kilometres west of Chennai in Tamil Nadu. Pinjavakkam has an intermittent electricity supply and only five telephone lines, yet Shalini has organised an "always-on" internet connection to let locals surf the web as they would in any other internet cafe.
With her webcam and microphone, Shalini offers her customers email access, virtual consultations with a doctor, a weekly Q&A hour with farming experts in Chennai and even the chance for people who won't or can't use a keyboard to catch up with distant friends and relatives. Shalini's business has been made possible thanks to Ashok Jhunjhunwala of the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai, who is creating cheap technologies that will extend the modern world to the most remote places.

3) 'Zero intelligence' trading closely mimics stock market

A model that assumes stock market traders have zero intelligence has been found to mimic the behaviour of the London Stock Exchange very closely.
However, the surprising result does not mean traders are actually just buying and selling at random, say researchers. Instead, it suggests that the movement of markets depend less on the strategic behaviour of traders and more on the structure and constraints of the trading system itself.
The research, led by J Doyne Farmer and his colleagues at the Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico, US, say the finding could be used to identify ways to lower volatility in the stock markets and reduce transaction costs, both of which would benefit small investors and perhaps bigger investors too.

4) Wipro is private employer No. 1

The new economy has scored another key victory over brick and mortar. Wipro, the $1 billion software services major, has overtaken Tata Steel to become the top private sector employer in the country. The steelmaker held the stop slot till the last financial year.

On December 31, 2004, Wipro had an employee base of 44,054 while Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the largest software service provider in Asia, was a close second, with an employee strength of 43,681 during the same period.
Of the top five private sector employers in the country, three are from the Tata group, with Tata Motors making the cut at number five just below Infosys at number four.

5) Britain's employers face retention crunch

Britain's employers face a growing retention nightmare as a new survey reveals that half the country's managers plan to change their job in the next two years - with better work-life balance a major motivation for moving on.
The Recruitment Confidence Index's (RCI) Employee Confidence Survey suggests that one in three (31 per cent) managers and professionals in the UK expect to change jobs within the next 12 months, with a further 17 per cent expecting to move within the next two years.
The survey, produced by Cranfield School of Management and the Daily Telegraph in association with Personnel Today, also revealed that manageable hours and better work-life balance are increasingly important factors in people's choice of employer.
Although more than half of all staff (57 per cent) say pay is very important to them, 48 per cent say enjoying the job is very important while four out of 10 (41 per cent) described working hours as a "crucial" factor.
When it comes to moving on, six out of 10 said they would apply for a new job if the salary was good enough - but half also said it was important that a new employer offered them good opportunities to balance work with home.
Research carried out by the RCI three months ago found that employers regarded pay, career progression and organisational culture as the three most important factors when it comes to hanging on to their talent.
"The results show that today's workers don't just want to be well paid for what they do, they also want job satisfaction and the ability to balance work and home,"
"Employers need to bear this in mind and think more creatively about the packages they offer new recruits if they are going to fill vacancies in what is already a tight labour market. It's not enough to offer pay and promotion - staff want a personal life too."