The co-founder and CEO of Zoho Corp, Sridhar Vembu, is not one of those filthy-rich high-life lovers. It had always been in him to do something  which the masses of his motherland could benefit from. He is not new to us; We’ve had the privilege of featuring his exclusive interview. Here is more on his philanthropy; Zoho University.

This post is more about this very unorthodox software company that is rebelling against many conventions, than merely being a career guidance. It is also partly about a boy named Saran Babu who is a flagship developer at Zoho. The connection between the two stories? Saran never went to college. He went to Zoho University instead.

The success story of Saran Babu started when he was 17. And as most other success stories, this one too began with a risk. At that time, Saran was on the lookout for a part-time job so that he could take over the family burden from his retiring father. He did not have much to expect as he was just out of high school. It was that time when Zoho, formerly called AdventNet, came out with an initiative. It was to hand-pick deserving high-school students  who are on the verge of dropping-out, and train them on software development. There was no promise of being recruited because this was more of a test-drive for Zoho. It is said that 3000/- was all they initially offered to these students. After 18 months of real-time training and assessments, they would be placed as regular employees.

Saran being the very first chosen one, had a tough time taking the call between a conventional college education he could hardly afford, and trusting this then-never-heard-of company. Looking back, it might be one of the best decisions he has ever made. Five years later, Saran finds himself at the heart of Zoho Creator, a star service of Zoho, and now earns nearly 40,000/-. Never mind the money; He is adored by all for his simple ways and humble attitude; Even by those few who might envy him for his technical expertise. Saran stands tall and most of his successors turn to him for guidance. He is turning 23 next month.

Of the two sides to everything, the less-seen side need not always be the dark side. Education has always been thought of as graduation from a famous and costly college. The overlooked fact is that the other side too is changing lives. Zoho plays in a market ruled by Google and Microsoft. How could it afford to employ people who never went to high-school and college? Well, that is just what they are doing, and they are doing just fine. It is 10% already, and Sridhar would love to see around 40% of his proud followers to be graduates of Zoho University. He humbly says that it is not charity that they are doing; It is a win for the company too, because these employees are the ones with the greatest vigor and passion of a young and fresh mind. The most loyal ones too.

All this sensation comes from Zoho University which is now looking to recruit it’s 19th batch of students. Here is more on how to apply.

Kids who have completed their +2/diploma (in any stream) are eligible to apply to Zoho University at univ@zohocorp.com. They would then be given a written test, followed by a series of interviews. On successful selection, the candidates would be inducted into an 18 month training program at Zoho University.

With five full-time faculty members, a curriculum that finally has relevance to reality and 18 batches of successful high-school drop-outs, Zoho University is, without doubt, more  meaningful than conventional college education.

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GetSetGrow Editorial Team

And the winners are

1. AirTight Networks
2. Comviva
3. Eka Software Solutions
4. IBM Daksh Business Process Services
5. RuralShores Business Services
6. Tejas Networks
7. TringMe
8. Wipro Technologies
9. Zoho Corporation

Market Facing – Business Process and Business Model
Winner:
Eka Software Solutions

Runner up:
Comviva
Process (Internal) Innovation

Winner:
Wipro Technologies
Joint Runners up
Zoho Corporation
IBM Daksh Business Process Services Pvt Ltd

New Technology Advancement

Winner:
Tejas Networks Innovation

Joint Winner:
AirTight Networks

Start up

Winner
TringMe  – Innovation:
Runner up
RuralShores Business Services

NASSCOM Innovation Awards for the Indian IT-BPO industries is conducted every year, in which the trade-body receives a high number of applications. The top 50 innovations are selected based on a rigorous process.

The Competition was open to 4 Categories:

1. Business Innovation
2. Business Process and Business Model
3. New Technology Advancement
4. Startup

TCS’ mKrishi was chosen as one amongst the 50 IT Innovators 2008 list released by National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM). mKrishi is a mobile-based Agro Advisory system designed for farmers to receive personalized advice in their local language. Infosys developed IP Program – Innovation Management Solution ,

Click here to know more details of the innovations also download the booklet to get all the info about the Innovation made by Industries . Some of them were as below :

iKen Solutions – Mobile music portal with Artificial Intelligence techniques and methodologies
IndiaGames – Online Gaming Evangelization process
Indrion Technologies – Energy efficiency realization through integration of sensor network intelligence in work environments
Infospectrum India – 3GPP convergence product suite using the internet protocol.

“When your neighbor loses his job it is a slowdown; when you loss yours job it’s a recession; when an economist loses his job; it’s a depression.” —– said former US President Harry S Truman.

Over the last few months the global economy is a testimony to the fact of how fast the world changes. If you were greeted in early 2008 with multiple in-campus and off-campus offerings, and 30% salary hike, in 2009 you are faces with the stark reality of minimal or no offers/hikes . If your “tag cloud” in 2007-2008 had the terms “short-term incentives” ,”Employee Stock-option”, “ executive benefits, bonuses”, “perquisites” etc. in March 2009 you are greeted with regular news of lay-offs, job-cuts, deferred joining dates. We keep ourselves glued to the TV watching in utter disbelief some of the so called “Fortune 500” companies declaring themselves bankrupt, Government launching bail-out packages. While most of us are seeing the darkness of the “recession” tunnel as we travel along there are few who has already started seeing the emerging light at the end of it. So is there a light really ?

In the words of Amartya Sen, the Nobel Laureate in Economics,

“A crisis not only presents an immediate challenge that has to be faced. It also provides an opportunity to address long-term problems when people are willing to reconsider established conventions. This is why the present crisis also makes it important (for us) to face the neglected long-term issues.”

Now thinking from a student’s perspective what is the key issue? Interestingly today most of us, exhibit similar traits as though we are in Stockholm Syndrome. We show loyalty to the same system which has helped us develop so many of our vices. We are happy with our existing beliefs, ideas and are not willing to change.

In the recent EmTech India 2009 held in Delhi, Prof M. G. K. Menon, a renowned physicist and policy maker in India summarized that “India has barely touched the tip of the iceberg as a knowledge economy, and must use “disruptive technologies” to drive markets such as healthcare and education”.

The key word for survival in today’s world is “To Innovate every day”. Speaking about Innovation it’s a broad area and may sound intimidating at first. However if we closely look at any child they are the born innovator. What are the steps to innovate? It follows 3 simple steps A-B-C.

Ask Question always; don’t blindly accept things the way they are.

Believe that you can change or add value to the process. Remember everything starts with belief in you.

Change the process. You can start with a small change and see the reaction of the change; gradually you can bring about a major change.

In today’s world there are lot of Management graduates passing out every day and one of the common chapters in their curriculum is “Entrepreneurship and Innovation” (E&I).

There are various tools to help students with coming up with creative ideas , Later Thinking, Six Thinking Hats are some of them. To get an idea you have a look at the 25 Greatest Business Ideas compiled by Economic Times last month.

Example of a creative painting: Look at the picture below and identify how many ladies do you see.

Common Lateral thinking Concepts as designed by Dr Edward De Bono are:

Alternatives: Use concepts to breed new ideas

Focus: Sharpen or change your focus to improve your creative efforts

Challenge: Break free from the limits of accepted ways of operating

Random Entry: Use unconnected input to open new lines of thinking

Provocation: Move from a provocative statement to useful ideas

Harvesting: Select the best of early ideas and shape them into useable approaches

Treatment of Ideas: Develop ideas and shape them to fit an organization or situation .

A simple tool to start generating ideas is “Alternatives”.

In “Alternatives” we define the context of the situation first and then we identify the problem in that particular context and for each of the problem in that particular context we try to generate possible solutions. (Outlined in diagram of ABC triangle below).

Let us take the situation as follows: Recession Impact to students.

If we take the context as: Getting good jobs. Let’s take one of the problem and work towards generating ideas

The above was just an example of the application of “Alternative” theory to generate ideas. In similar way we can change the context and generate more and more ideas.

Before I conclude let me give you some of the innovations going on in the industry which was showcased in the EM Tech India conference.

Top 10 emerging technologies

In this year’s EmTech India conference, Technology Review listed ten technologies it thinks can change the way people live and work.

Liquid battery: A battery that can store enough electricity to allow cities to run on solar power at night.

Traveling-wave reactor: A reactor that would run on depleted uranium, making nuclear power safer and less expensive.

Paper diagnostic test: Paper that can create easy-to-use medical tests, making it possible to quickly and cheaply diagnose a range of diseases in the developing world.

Biological machines: A wirelessly controlled beetle can one day be used for surveillance or search-and-rescue missions.

US$100 genome: A nanofluidic chip that can dramatically lower the cost of genome analysis. Combined with the right sequencing technology, this chip can allow doctors to tailor medical treatment to a patient’s unique genetic profile, map new genes linked to specific diseases, and quickly identify new viruses and outbreaks.

Racetrack memory: A new type of data storage that uses magnetic nanowires. This “racetrack memory” could eventually replace all other forms of computer memory.

HashCache: A new method for storing Web content that will provide speedier Internet access, at more affordable rates around the world.

Intelligent software assistant: New software that can act as a personal aide. This virtual personal-assistant software will help users interact more effectively with Web services to complete tasks such as booking travel or finding entertainment.

Software-defined networking: A new standard called OpenFlow allows researchers to tap into Internet switches and routers, to easily test new networking technologies with the click of a mouse–all without interrupting normal service.

Nanopiezotronics: Piezoelectric nanowires can generate electricity using tiny environmental vibrations.

Happy Innovating!