Brigade Corporate Information

Brigade at theMumbai Propshop

To make its presence known in Mumbai, the Brigade Group participated in Propshop ’97, an exhibition of Indian real estate, organised by CitiHome Shelters. The exhibition lasted 4 days, from 17–20 Oct. at the Nehru Centre, Worli, Mumbai. This was Brigade Group's first major promotional effort in the financial capital of the country.

Art in Brigade Calendars—the tradition continues

Our 1998 calendar features the work of C. Rajagopal, a pictorialist of world renown.
Rajagopal is a photographer of original talent who has established his own standard in international photography. He has received over 100 awards and the highest honours from several photographic societies around the world. The citation from the Photographic Society of America reads: “For extraordinary leadership in advancing the art and science of photography, through work as an internationally acclaimed pictorialist... for inspiring countless other photographers....”

As a tribute to his 50 years of photography, the Brigade Group is organising a Rajagopal Retrospective in mid-January 1998. In this calendar, photographs by Rajagopal portray the placid and pastoral Bangalore of the ’40s and ’50s.

Code of ethics for developers
KOAPA is in the process of finalising a detailed code of ethics. This code is to help create transparency and uniformity in developer-client dealings.

Rubberwood in interior decoration

Rubberwood has recently been identified as the best raw material for the furnishing industry. Several factors have contributed to its popularity—its easy working properties (it is easy to saw, glue, stain, crosscut and machine), its even, moderately coarse texture, its multi-utility, its low cost and accessibility.
Rubberwood also possesses better aesthetic appeal than steel, aluminium or plastic. The rising popularity of rubberwood has also been attributed to timber shortage and soaring prices of wood. It is also eco-friendly.
Source: Interior today

Some Housekeeping tips

• To remove lime scale from bathrooms, apply lemon juice to the stain with an old toothbrush, or rub gently with a lemon dipped in salt. Then rinse thoroughly. An alternative is to mix a little borax and white vinegar to make a paste, and applying to the stain. Then clean as usual.

• To clean stained baths and basins, use equal quantities of turpentine and linseed oil. Apply with a soft cloth and clean with hot soapy water. Then rinse thoroughly. If the bath is very badly stained, try neat paraffin.

From Good Housekeeping—Traditional House hold Hints and Tips, by Linda Gray

Brigade Seshamahal Booked
Interview with Satish Bangalore, CEO of PHL Software Sevices

PHL Software Services is part of the Phoenix Home Life Insurance Group, and at present handles the internal software requirements of the Group. PHL Software Services has recently taken Brigade Seshamahal
Some excerpts of the interview conducted by Alok Narula of the Brigade Marketing Team, at the offices of PHL Software Services, Brigade Champak, Infantry Road:
Q: What made you choose Bangalore as your centre ?
A: Bangalore has the highest concentration of experienced professionals in the country. This was the main factor that helped us decide.
Q: What would you say are the strengths and weaknesses of Bangalore as against Hyderabad, Pune or Chennai ?
A: Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai have infrastructural problems, like Bangalore. But they are not destinations for software professionals.
At Bangalore, not only can we draw upon the present pool of professionals, but there is also a willingness in people from other parts of the country to come and work here. For software professionals, this is the mecca.
Q: What does the future hold for the software industry in India, after Y2K?
A: Even in the future there will be a gap between the demand and supply of software professionals. Y2K is just one of the problems that we are trying to solve. With Y2K, India as a source of software professionals will become firmly planted in the minds of many corporations. And companies who have the foresight to use this opportunity to build long-term relationships with their clients will reap rewards even after Y2K.
Q: You recently sponsored the ATP Tennis Championship—doubles, in the U.S. Do you have plans to hold a similar tournament in India ?
A: Yes, we are interested in sponsoring a tournament wherever it is held. But it will make sense to hold it in Bangalore.
Q: What are the contributions you have made towards discharging your social responsibilities ?
A: We have started investigating as to how we can help the disadvantaged sections of population, especially women in rural areas and the disabled. We have hired a disabled person on the recommendation of the Ministry of Labour. The outcome has been positive and encouraging. So, we are looking at these sectors for our staffing.

Swabhimana needs your help
Swabhimana is a movement to promote people’s participation in Bangalore’s development, and comprises a core team of dedicated NGOs. We at the Brigade Group recognise the need to support and encourage citizen-government initiatives. As a start, Brigade Group is contributing to Swabhimana, by supporting the salary of a staff member. More civic activities from the Brigade Group are planned.

Centre for Environment Education—a short profile
In our last issue (Jul.—Sept.), we started a feature on Swabhimana’s core team of NGOs. The Centre for Environment Education (CEE) is one of the NGOs associated with Swabhimana. It provides assistance to several resident groups in setting up waste systems; conducts awareness building programmes for citizen groups; conducts training programmes for volunteers and officials; and assists in documentation of waste management practices.
CEE is at present involved in organising training programmes for the hospital waste management plan in Malleswaram (see article on pg.5), and will soon be expanding its activities to other parts of Karnataka.
Swabhimana representative at CEE:
Anita V. Ph: 080-286 9094 / 286 9907

ISO Workshop
The ISO is a truly rigorous and demanding process. It demands continuous improvement in systems and processes. With this in mind, the Brigade Group organised an ISO workshop at Hotel Atria, on 4 Dec., for their associates, with whose co-operation this continuous improvement is made easier.
During this awareness programme Dr R.V. Jayathirtha of Bullseye Consulting Group spoke on several aspects of ISO—the concept of quality and quality systems, the need for quality systems and procedures, the concept of TQM, the evolution of ISO, the ISO 9000 series and certifications.
Thomas Associates, Venkataramanan Associates, Chandavarkar & Thacker, Semac, Sterling Engineering, Procon Engineers, Prakash Consultants, Resource Communications, Hariyalee and Zachariah Consultants were represented in this workshop.

It pays to know.... “The four absolutes of quality”
Philip Crosby—the man who gave the world the definition of quality and the concept of ‘zero defects’, has based his philosophy on four absolutes of quality. 1) Quality is conformance to requirements 2) The system of quality is prevention 3) The performance standard is zero defects 4) The measurement of quality is the price of non-conformance (PONC)—these are the four absolutes. He further explains that the POnc is the cost of doing things wrong. Manufacturing organisations have a PONC that is about 25% of sales. This is a massive drain on the bottomline. PONC is hence a management tool that delivers business results by focussing on the largest areas of waste in the organisation.
He has also outlined 14 steps to ensure that quality is managed effectively. At the core of these steps is the management structure that needs to review, monitor and correct the quality movement, he says.