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27 Dec 2003
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The true "e-MpTy" in MT

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Dear Friends,

Reprinting from Aug 2000 issue...
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Now I've heard everything! The San Francisco Chronicle reported
some weeks ago that a Hindu priest in Silicon Valley called
Umashankar Dixit is in great demand to perform Lakshmi poojas when
MT startups are launched by Indians, as an increasing number are.
Mr. Dixit says modestly that he is considered a 'lucky hand'
because his God is Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. He -- Mr.
Dixit that is, not Ganesha -- has been compensated in cash and
stock options by several startups and says he has already done very
well from the IPOs. Rediff's US edition and USA Today have since
come up with their own breathless takes on Mr. Dixit, reporting
among other things that he spends an hour every morning, presumably
just after sandhyavandanam, on the Internet monitoring the
financial markets.

It's not clear from the articles whether Mr. Dixit is an Iyer, in
which case he would normally wear three bands of vibhooti on his
forehead -- ideal, one would think, for launching companies which
specialise in TASPs. On the other hand, he may be an Iyengar who
wears a U-shaped naamam on his forehead, more suitable for
launching MT service companies (that's how the graph goes :). Or
else, he may have decided to assist as wide a spectrum of startups
as possible and may favour a simple kumkum pottu -- in effect,
despite all the gadzillions HealthScribe spends on advertising, it
may actually be Mr. Dixit who is the "e-MpTy" in MT.

It is likely, although both the Chronicle and Rediff are
unaccountably reticent on this point, that Mr. Dixit's poojas are
integral to the business plans of his clients and the willingness
of canny VCs to part with vast amounts of negotiable tender. I have
it on good authority that the average e-MpTy startup in the Valley
usually has its business plan scribbled on a napkin and requires
you to sign a non-disclosure before it will show the napkin to you.
Mr. Dixit's clients have probably jotted down a business plan that
typically goes something like this:

1. Come up with brilliant idea for TASP category killer
but don't tell anybody
2. Get copy of founders' horoscopes for name selection
3. Consult Dixit on launch date and muhurtam
4. Finalise funding of 6 million
5. Locate suitable garage
6. Order pizza
7. Don't use this napkin to blow your nose

'So who's Dixit?' asks the VC. 'Oh, he specialises in
ultra-long-distance wireless communications' says the entrepreneur.
'Wow,' says the VC as he fumbles for his chequebook, 'so that's
where you're going, huh?' 'That's where the whole world will
eventually have to go' says the entrepreneur, 'but we're giving you
an opportunity to get in on the ground floor!' And so it goes.

The Chronicle describes a typical Lakshmi pooja performed by Mr.
Dixit in lyrical detail. The CEO of the company has set up a small,
colourful shrine in a tiny conference room for the ceremony. 'There
is a basket with 108 U.S. coins, symbolizing the 108 different
names and forms of Hindu gods; a platter with coconuts, limes and
other offerings; and small silver bowls of turmeric, the
yellow-orange seasoning signifying wealth, and kumkum, the red
powder that Indians use to dot their foreheads. The ceremony, which
involves a lot of chanting and tossing of flower petals, lasts
about 45 minutes.' As an honorarium, Mr. Dixit receives 51 dollars
and 5,000 stock options. One assumes that for good measure, he also
tosses some akshathai on the heads of the VCs, not to mention the
Chronicle's correspondent. And so it goes.

The startup buys two Porsches and sets up shop in a garage to begin
work on its brilliant idea. Very soon, it is first round funding
'swaaha' as Mr. Dixit might say, and more money is needed although
no revenue is in sight. That's when the entrepreneurs hide the
Porsches and go out and hire a couple of CMTs. If all the column
inches of pure baloney that have been written about CMTs in the
past one year were placed end to end, they would reach the moon.
'Can I see the scars on your fingertips you got from the exam?'
whispers the VC reverently. 'Aw, gee' says the bashful CMT, 'you
should see the one I got when they did my frontal lobotomy!'
Immediately, even more money rolls in and our intrepid
entrepreneurs organise a homam that is, naturally, performed by Mr.
Dixit. 'We're increasing our burn rate' the founders reassure the
investors. And so it goes.

Soon, everyone wants to meet Mr. Dixit who duly arrives in his
modest Honda Accord. In the Valley, nobody thinks his silk veshti
and angavastram are particularly odd. 'Willya look at those cool
threads!' the investors remark, eyeing his poonal. 'So how's it
going?' they want to know. 'It's all His leela' says the devout Mr.
Dixit, looking skywards. 'We're a pure e-MpTy play' translate the
entrepreneurs. By this time, breathless articles in publications
like the Chronicle have caused normally cautious people to buy
sleeping bags and camp out on the grass outside the company to get
a piece of the action. The entrepreneurs use part of the windfall
to buy homes in Sausalito. The grihapravesam is performed,
naturally, by Mr. Dixit. And so it goes.

The Chronicle doesn't say specifically what Mr. Dixit thinks of the
whole dizzy e-MpTy world, although Rediff reports that he thinks
the economy and the markets will recover very soon, praise be to
Vigneshwara. The Chronicle is far too busy asking Dr. Mark
Juergensmeyer, professor of sociology who studies Indian religion
at the University of California at Santa Barbara what he thinks of
the idea of Mr. Dixit receiving stock options. Mr. Dixit will no
doubt be reassured to know that Prof. Juergensmeyer thinks that
stock options for priests aren't incompatible with Indian culture.
'Some Hindu priests' the good professor says, 'receive more than
others, just as they do in other religions.' Ayyaiyyo, for these
kinds of penetrating insights they gave Juggu a PhD?

What Ganesha thinks is another matter for speculation. The prudent
Mr. Dixit says he's already using a part of his high-tech portfolio
to construct a Durga Siddhivinayaka temple in Bangalore, so it may
well be okay with Him too. I guess day-trading beats removing
obstacles hands down, especially if He already knows which way
NASDAQ is going and how the MedQuist saga will end. Sarva Vighna
Upashaantaye...
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Happy New Year, ladies and gents. I wish each MT Times reader a
happy, healthy, prosperous, and satisfying 2004.

Cheers!

Maj (Dr.) Amit Chatterjee, SM
Strategist / Founder ~ mailto:amit@...
MT India ~ www.mtindia.org
"The Community of MT Professionals"

"It takes years to become an overnight success! Inch by inch, it's
a cinch."

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NEWS AND VIEWS :
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1) British medical transcription work may go to India

More medical transcription work is expected to be outsourced to
India, with the British health authorities giving a £620 million
'electronic medical records' contract to British Telecom (BT).

Indian companies are already performing medical transcription work
for American hospitals and health care agencies. Now, the contract
to BT involving putting medical records of every patient in Britain
on a national database is expected to lead to several sub-contracts
to India. BT already has a major presence in India.

Health Secretary John Reid said the system will "completely
revolutionise" the way information about patients is accessed and
used.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_488540,0003.htm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/347790.cms

2) Cornelius, N.C., Firm Outsources Medical-Record Keeping to India

Inside a single-story Cornelius office building, high-power
computers encode medical information for patients nationwide and
zap it to 3,000 transcriptionists in India.

In as little as two hours, neatly typed records of surgery,
illness, recovery and death zip back across the oceans to Arrendale
Associates and on to 40 U.S. hospitals and clinics, none in the
Carolinas.

Arrendale is the link to one of India's largest medical
transcription firms, CBay Systems, and illustrates the range of
U.S. work moving abroad. The partnership also represents two
commonly cited offshore drivers: cost-cutting and U.S. worker
shortages.

Experts estimate that 1 to 2 percent of U.S. MT work goes overseas
today. CBay already has a franchise-like network of 34 Indian
sites, employing about 3,000 MTs at an average of $3,000 to $5,000
a year, Del Arrendale said.

And within the past 18 months, the company has seen growing
acceptance for work done abroad.

"The stigma is there," said Kozie Phibbs, a former hospital medical
records director now selling for Arrendale, "but a lot of people
are becoming more comfortable with it."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/7498649.htm

3) 'Outsourcing can't be blamed for job losses in US'

As US-based companies paid workers in India , China and the
Philippines almost $10 billion last year for services that can be
performed more cheaply by them than Americans, the job crisis in US
should be blamed on changing technology and not on outsourcing,
according to an economist here.

Most job losses over the last three years have not been due to
American jobs "moving" elsewhere, Robert B Reich, former Labour
Secretary, who is now professor of social and economic policy at
Brandeis, said in an article in The Wall Street Journal .

"Want to blame something? Blame new knowledge," said Reich, who
pointed out that job losses go well beyond the factory floor.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/385104.cms

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The MTIndia Team
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