Important update on H1B

Those of you who are already working in the US on H1B and planning to change the status to F1 need not worry too much. After completion of MBA, you wont be subject to the quota and can opt to complete the remaining of the 6 years of H1.

This came as a big relief to me.

Look at the following link on business week:

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/mar2008/bs20080318_724256.htm

Increase in brand value

I-flex solutions, my present employer changed its name to "Oracle Financial Services Limited". Oracle anyway holds 81 % stake in i-flex solutions.

Read the press release made by ORACLE two days back.

http://www.oracle.com/corporate/press/2008_apr/ofs.html

Oracle Press Release

Contact(s):
Kevin Ruane
Oracle
+1.650.506.6610
kevin.ruane@oracle.com

Peter Yorke
i-flex solutions
+91.80220.87560
peter.yorke@iflexsolutions.com
i-flex solutions limited to change its name to Oracle Financial Services Limited
Alignment with Oracle brand reflects synergies of scale, resources, expertise and efficiency
MUMBAI, 03-APR-2008 11:00 PM The Board of Directors of i-flex solutions Ltd. (Reuters: IFLX.BO & IFLX.NS) at its meeting held today in Mumbai, approved a proposal to change the name of i-flex solutions Ltd. to Oracle Financial Services Limited, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.

The proposed new name reflects the company's close strategic and operational alignment with its parent, Oracle Corporation, which owns 81 percent of the company. Oracle is the #1 enterprise software provider and counts 10 of the top 10 banks, insurance companies and securities firms among its more than 8,500 financial services customers across 145 countries.

The new "Oracle Financial Services" brand represents:
# The industry's most comprehensive range of packaged software and services solutions for financial services across banking, capital markets, and insurance - all from Oracle
# Deep domain expertise in the financial services industry coupled with world-class software development and support experience
# A unique combination of integrated and best-of-breed business solutions for the industry
# A business process-oriented approach that aligns IT initiatives with business requirements and enables an evolutionary transformation of IT infrastructure
# A strong commitment to open systems and industry standards, helping to ensure interoperability
# A partner-oriented approach that enables partners to deliver increased value around the solutions offered by Oracle Financial Services

The new branding strategy demonstrates the synergies of scale, resources, expertise and efficiency across the two organizations. The current management team under N.R.K. Raman, CEO and Managing Director, will continue to run the operations of the company.

"The new branding reflects the importance that Oracle attaches to the financial services sector," said Charles Phillips, Oracle President and Director of i-flex solutions Ltd., "Oracle Financial Services Limited will be a focal point for Oracle's investment in innovation and leadership in financial services, and we are delighted to put the power and credibility of the Oracle brand behind this strategic initiative."

"Our new corporate identity represents a unique combination of the industry-leading solutions portfolio and deep domain expertise of i-flex and the global capability, credibility, scale and technology leadership embodied by the Oracle brand, coming together to deliver comprehensive solutions to financial institutions around the world," said Rajesh Hukku, Chairman, i-flex solutions Ltd., and General Manager, Oracle Financial Services Global Business Unit.

N.R.K Raman, CEO & Managing Director, i-flex solutions Ltd., also commented, "The new identity will enable us to better leverage the global reach, infrastructure and brand visibility of Oracle to accelerate our growth. This is an important enabler of our mission to help financial institutions around the world excel through the effective use of information technology."

About i-flex solutions
i-flex(r) solutions (Reuters: IFLX.BO and IFLX.NS), majority owned by Oracle, is a world leader in providing IT solutions to the financial services industry, with more than 790 customers in over 130 countries. Its range of applications software, custom solutions and consulting services enable financial institutions to cut costs, respond rapidly to market needs, enhance customer service levels and mitigate risk.

About Oracle
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at http://www.oracle.com.

# # #

Trademarks
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. (NOTE: final, trademark paragraph does not need

Some people hate business school..

Here's a link to post on wall street oasis :

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/ever-hear-of-someone-hating-business-school

There's also a post by Alex on that. Worth reading.

Finance !!!! Thats wot I got to do...

Few days back, I listened to my inner voice after long introspection.

I have decided to make a career switch to finance. I won't rely completely on MBA to make this career switch happen.

Yesterday, I registered for CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Level 1 exam in December this year.

Ideal plan is :
CFA level 1 Dec ' 08

CFA level 2 Jun ' 09

MBA - Class of 2011.

CFA level 3 Jun ' 11.

I know that CFA is very vast and rigorous curriculum in finance. I will have to work pretty hard to balance work and study commitment.

So the coming months are challenging as well as exciting.

Strategy Consulting for non-profits

I had applied to a strategy consulting firm, whose main focus is non-profits and small businesses. I'm really happy to report that I have been shortlisted for an interview. I cleared the first and second round where I had to write few essay questions. Selection rate till this stage is 33%.

Now comes the biggest challenge.A CASE INTERVIEW. The overall selection rate is only 15%.

Avg experience at this firm is : 7 years, 50-60% people are MBA. I have 5 years of experience and no MBA. So I have to display strong performance in case based interview.

I know their consulting framework thoroughly, but I would like to study few cases in non-profit side. I am very much new to non-profit management world.

I want to read some strategy consulting cases in non-profit.

Can anybody help me with this ?

Application Strategy - the big picture..

I know this is too early for Fall 2009 cycle. But I want to be prepared well in advance. I feel really good about the decision I took to postpone MBA by one year in October last year. I will certainly have many distinguishing factors this year.

I will be applying to 6 schools this year. 4 will be top schools.

The applications will be distributed across R1 and R2.

R1 :
3 Top schools
1 Backup school

R2:
1 Top school
1 Backup school

That's the end. I hope by this year end to get 2-3 admits and I have choice to select a school I will be attending in Fall'09.

2008 FT Rankings -- Lot of surprises

FT recently published their rankings for 2008.

ISB ranks among top 20. Its great to know from Indian perspective.But certainly hard to believe that it ranks ahead of Kellogg. IE - Spain and IESE ranks ahead of NYU-Stern.

There are lot of so so universities from UK such as Strathclyde, Cranfield ahead of Darden, Haas - Berkeley.

Check this out :
http://rankings.ft.com/global-mba-rankings