Skills for shaping the digital enterprise

In the world of digital transformation happening, how do we see the roles emerge? Does the old definition still hold good? Here is a brief view.

Most organization will become “digital” in some way or other. When they change from a monolithic to a digitally agile unit, usually a saviour is recruited and he or she is called CDO (Chief Digital Officer). But things do not end there. Rather it is a start. The entire organization should become digitally nimble. For that, we also need to see how the roles encompass some of these aspects. Mind you, today’s world will not be strict 1-1 mapping. We will find that CHRO and CMRO should work together in incubating labs and the would be their joint KPPs.

CHRO (Chief Human Resources Officer) - Starts with identification of digital gap and engages in acquisition of such talent to fill the gap. Target is for the CHRO to own the “digital experience” and initiate a culture of “incubation labs” that foster and nurture talent closely allied to business as the enterprise becomes digital throughout.

CMRO (Chief Marketing Officer) - Starts with setting up marketing related digital aspects. Target is to own the “digital experience” along with CHRO. All start up labs / eco-systems for building products and experiences should be the mainstay.

What about CTO (Chief Technology Officer)? The vision of CTO means a nice team of geeks who set the enterprise architecture standards for the organization. Of course, the starting point is development of digital architecture. Target will be to own digital product labs.

The all-pervading CIO (Chief Information Officer) will be responsible, initially, for defining and managing digital infrastructure as part of the enabling function of IT. The entire portfolio including the actual digital infrastructure of the organization as well as the target channels of interaction should be governed in the end.

The CDO (Chief Digital Officer) is the digital evangelist at the beginning. He or she should lead the digitalization initatives as well as the incubator labs.

Chief Data Officer is responsible for modelling digital standards and driving data access. All the development of data-driven products and usage of digital to fuel more data and innovation will become de rigueur.

In summary:

1. Culture will change form strict compartmentalization to porous boundaries. Roles and KPPs will impact each other and will require working together not only across functions but also with various service providers and other technology partners.
2. A common set of traits will form the bedrock of digitally nimble organizations. They will include digital thinking and lean principles. The mindset will move from a generalist to digital generalist taking into account the “domain” knowledge specific to the industry.
3. Finally, every one in the new era cannot be a risk avoider. No reward for such a strategy. They will be encouraged to take calculated risk, try out new things rapidly harnessing data from different channels, discard things that do not work out but in the process go towards what is likely to work.

Changes happening in Insurance industry impacting IT service providers

Usually people associate technology changes more with banking sector.  about insurance? Global insurance market is valued at $5 Trillion. How the people use insurance and even think of it have undergone a tremendous change. The expectations are different and so is the service catalogue from the providers. How is the technology shaping up the industry?

Here are 3 important changes driving this sector.

All encompassing digital transformation – New models / Personalization

Like any other industry, this has shaken the leaders as well as laggards. No one could afford to be complacent. The overall impact is very positive for both the organizations as well as the customers. Customers’ expectations are changing: They expect very specific bouquet of services, expect services anytime anywhere and through any channel. EY estimates that 80% of customers want better communication with the insurance organizations. And this communication has to work seamlessly across channels!

Big Data And Analytics will play a huge role. Are today’s insurance organizations equipped for collecting all data online and real time? Have they made changes to their organizations as well as the processes in order to make use of the data? Can they offer a single user based insurance and personalized premium based on the data available online? What are the ways to collect data in order to get a competitive advantage?

If 80% of the premium is lost due to distribution costs, imagine the power of digital models. Perhaps they will make the intermediaries redundant in the entire value chain. APIs will redefine insurer-insured-InsurTech relationships. Insight-driven offerings will be the buzzword! An insurance company, in Europe, partnered with Panasonic. The latter’s sensors provide alerts to both the insurer and its customers using which issues are resolved quickly. Drones are here to stay and will become increasingly used for many purposes. Some of them are assessment of property damages, accurate estimation of property, analysis etc. In order to assess Hurricane Harvey’s damages and settle the claims faster, leading auto insurers used drones. In Australia, many big loss claims were settled within 90 days using drones.

Insurtech modernization

The system of records, especially the legacy systems, need to be transformed and operating costs minimized. RPA (Robotics Process Automation) and SaaS are being extensively used. Many companies buy products and customize them so much so that it loses the product flavour. This can only increase the costs of maintaining such systems. Companies are looking at  standardization as a means to cut costs.

Some of these are likely to encompass the following:

• AI and automation to cut down costs
• Focused application for digitalized customer experience and focused approach to problem-solving.
• Implementing a global Blockchain for a more secure and safe information sharing channel.

Partnerships

The collaboration between insurance and InsurTech firms will happen faster. The result will be new revenue models, higher profitability and reduced costs. If we look at the InsurTech firms’ growth, it happens in almost all the areas such as auto, cyber security, home etc. These call for increased technology capabilities which may be difficult to develop by the traditional insurers or would take a longer lead time. The latter is not acceptable in the competitive world. This could even be a win-win for both. Reaching out to large customers could become easier using InsurTech companies.

References

https://www.businessinsider.in/the-insurtech-report-how-financial-technology-firms-are-helping-and-disrupting-the-nearly-5-trillion-insuranceindustry/articleshow/60258913.cms

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/qbe-deploys-drones-to-assess-insurance-claims-452739

https://www.nationwide.com/smartride.jsp

https://www.cbinsights.com/research-insurance-tech-trends

https://riskandinsurance.com/5-tech-trends-for-insurers-to-watch-in-2019/

Dear customers, Rationalize your SLAs…

You go and ask an ISP (IT Service Provider) of any customer especially in the field of FS (Financial Services).

You: Hi, tell me about your delivery quality.

ISP: Welcome. We are at the top of the delivery excellence curve in the eco-system of my customer. All SLAs are green for the last … years. We are very proud.

You: Good. How many SLAs (Service Level Agreements) do you measure and report?

ISP: We pride ourselves in reporting more than 100 SLAs covering all aspects.

You: Wow! 100+ All your SLAs are green. Can you vouch for no degradation in the performance of your customer’s service to their end-consumers?

ISP: We can’t say that. Whatever we do, we are GREEN.

The above is not an uncommon conversation that can be experienced today. SLAs are good and needed. But what started off as a measurement mechanism is not what you see. It has become muddled, saddled with increasing number of measures and is being religiously reported. The only problem is that who consumes and what useful information is derived from it? What has happened in the last few years?

• The eco-system has more than one vendors.
• Very rarely does a complete business process start and stop with one vendor. Different vendors act on different parts of the value chain to complete a service.
• More vendors result in more hops of process flow. Each hop adds complexity to measurement, governance overhead and lead time.
• SLAs have become more operational and reflect the process capability of the ISP and have nothing to do with the business outcome of the customer. A system has an availability of 99.99%. It is possible to have one minute outage and meet the SLA. If that one minute happens to be during a critical window, business suffers. On the other hand, an outage at some other time may not impact business.
• The amount of time spent in recording data, reporting and managing can fund a fully-fledged vendor department!

What should the customer do?

1. Have a focused 1-2 week exercise. Look at your vendors and different services.
2. Understand your business capability and map the IT processes/vendors against each. Identify the critical points in the value chain.
3. Start developing SLAs to match with the “success criteria” of IT as a whole. For this, assume you are the only party in control of all IT resources/services.
4. Do not waste time in operational SLAs vouching for the process capability of the vendors. If you have selected a vendor compliant with certain process standards, it is the responsibility of the ISP to comply with it. So long as the MSA (Contract – Master Services Agreement) covers it, that should be fine. However, retain the option to ask for artefacts that couch for compliance.
5. Call for a workshop with the ISPs and set about how each one can take the SLA you have devised. It comes in many different flavours:

• Flavour #1: Every ISP can take the SLA and apply it with respect to its domain/services. For example, consider a resource ramp up time of n weeks. It applies to every ISP and can work with their portfolio.
• Flavour #2: The SLAs have to be taken by each ISP; however, the target value should change as the quantum and type of work done by each ISP vary. Consider the fact that 20% of the IT staff are considered “KEY” and there is a whole host of definition behind what is “KEY” including longevity in the account, skills, capability, offboarding procedure etc. Customer’s IT has a target of 25%. But the same % may not be relevant for an infra service provider vs high end application service provider. The values should reflect their role and volume of work.
• Flavour #3: This is the most complex. The completion of a business capability requires services from different ISPs. Here, the respective ISPs should take the entire SLA as it is and have a responsibility to work together and ensure all of them complete the task within the overall time. This will call for a high maturity discussion, understanding and a passion to work with multiple vendors in order to deliver a business outcome. Once agreed, the ISPs will ensure they work seamlessly, find ways to inform one another well in advance, have planning sessions, find ways to reduce the hop etc. If any ISP is not willing to take, you really need to re-examine the fundamental reason behind. Or it is perhaps time to re-examine the relationship with the ISP.
• Flavour #4: This is similar to the variant #3 but with a difference. The single business capability can be broken into distinct steps with each step owned by an ISP. Here,  the ISP take that part of the SLA (After breaking it down) that applies to them with a specific target value.

After agreeing on this, focus on:

• Propagation of the same across all users/stakeholders
• Laying down of the measurement and reporting system to be used and
• Developing an automated system for tracking and reporting eliminating the need for a voluminous governance around this.
• As a guideline, any set of SLAs more than 20 measures may not augur well.

Finally, a word of caution: If, as a customer, you find too often lifting the phone or dropping an email to ask for an SLA report or spend days validating the data in the SLA report or get happiness in organizing SLA meetings, you have slipped into a danger zone. 

Trends in Banking and their impact to IT service providers

As part of an IT service provider in financial services especially to banks, we are constantly reminded of  and surrounded by what’s happening in the midst of our customers. The changes are hard to miss. We ignore these trends at our own peril!

I see the following 3 key changes happening in banking that have huge impact to IT service providers.

#1. Banks are placing more importance on open banking standards and providing APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) either due to regulatory pressure or from a desire to stay relevant

#2. Banks are using data and AI in almost all services where possible to provide differentiation.

#3. Banks invest a lot in understanding and enhancing their end-customers' engagement with them. They want to make their customers' journey – as much STP (Straight Thru Processing) as possible whilstnot comrpromising on customer experience.

Where do the new customers, especially the millennials, shop for financial products? Where do they perform the analysis and comparison? The answer is in their own mobiles or hand-held devices.  In other words, a strong integrated data management that helps in analysing real-time structured or unstructured data to understand customer better and create a personalized experience is required. IT service providers who understand this and build solutions that can adapt will survive. Such an IT system should allow customers to engage in the channels of their choice at any time. The switching from one channel to another should provide a seamless experience.

Second, long winded vendor selection process (perhaps robbing of certain revenue for “Sourcing advisors”) with a view to reducing cost of the landscape is gone. This is because banks have started focusing more on enhancing experience than cost reduction. This, of course, doesn’t mean the latter is not important. It is just that it has taken a back seat to the former and has huge implications in terms of the type of skills a service provider needs to engage with the banks to develop suitable solutions. And the banks are not prepared to wait for 3 months or more in order to select a partner! Failing fast is the new norm.

The banks are willing to pick up customers at any point in their journey but want to provide a wholesome experience that lasts long and enhances the relationship. A customer may have come to avail a particular banking service, say housing loan, after using online comparison or aggregator tools. But it is in the bank’s interest to hold on to the customers by understanding their preferences and evolving a bouquet of services that are way better than what they are currently having. IT systems can no longer be built to do only one thing. Instead, they should be nimble, lean, have the ability to learn and grow very quickly and provide a means of differentiation to the organization.

Impact to IT service providers

All the above changes affect the Indian IT service providers (ISP) in many ways and in different dimensions.

• Capability: The skills, required for building or changing IT systems, are continuously changing. As a result, people who can adapt quickly are the need of the hour. How fast can a service provider deliver such skills? This has huge impact on reskilling, cross-skilling, recruitment etc. As service providers grow hugely, such changes take long time implement. They have to start exhibiting in pockets and spread them across the rest of the units. They can’t afford to wait for global roll-outs! 
• Skill mix: Major impact in the percentage of thinkers vs builders. As the IT systems of the bank move to providing more and more business value, the fundamental nature of the skills change. ISPs used to break down every piece of IT work and execute 80% or more of them at offshore. This ratio is becoming more skewed. Some of the new type of IT work demands more than 40% work be done close to the customer and falls into the "Thinking" category. As the release cycle reduces, very quick execution is required. This would place huge emphasis on collaboration tools to enhance the quality of work and provide a seamless experience to the banks.
• Location is the third aspect. As the banks expand into new markets and offer new services, there would be demands from ISPs to service them locally. For example, there is a growing market in Baltic region. Many banks are targeting customers in the region who are considered very tech-savvy. Such demands have to be met locally very close to customer. Traditional models of building capability in a monolithic way and transporting the people to the desired locations may not work. The lead time may not be advantageous to the ISPs. Many ISPs make use of centres in off-beat fancy locations. How many of them are known for certain capability other than being a low-cost location? The customers are paying increasing attention to the capability and people being developed in various delivery centres.

All the above will call for various measures, in a co-ordinated way, to be implemented by the ISPs. Guess what, implementing these will not only be simple but add to their growing costs. But the banks may not be willing to give you a long lead time nor absorb a temporary surge in their IT costs! Only those ISPs who are not afraid to experiment and who invest in understanding their customers' journey are more likely to succeed.

Margazhi Musings 2018

The major part of the Margazhi 2018 music season has come to an end. As usual, this year has been no exception with the multitude of sabhas competing with each other in hosting programs, lectures, demonstrations, discourses etc. It is really a feast to the fans. UNESCO has recognized and included Chennai in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for its rich musical tradition and contribution to music.

Do we know that the first season started in 1927? Many of the sabhas have been doing a yeoman service to music. The very first is the Mylapore based ‘Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha’ which began as early as 1896, by Mani Tirumalachariar. It was known then as ‘Sangeetha Vidwat Sabha’. The change to the present name happened in 1900. Of course, no discussion is complete without ‘Madras Music Academy’. It started off by hosting performances under a make-shift pandal. The “Academy” has grown into a magnificent institute with a rich history and patronage. At the same time, Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiyar started “Tamil Isai Sangam” to promote Tamil in music. It is well known today that Tamil has an excellent musical system, notations and precursors to the well-known ragas of today. Due to lack of patronage, support and practitioners, Tamil music did not become very popular. There was a period when the musicians shuddered to perform in Tamil! Credit goes to Chettiyar for his help in uncovering the music of Tamil maestros including the Trinity of Tamil – Muthu Thandavar, Marimutha Pillai and Arunachala Kavirayar. Enough about the history.

Here is my own take on the season 2018 after attending many concerts and interacting with musicians, sabha organizers and rasikas. Mind you, this is just my personal note!

Artistes

The morning / afternoon concerts are not ticketed and are mainly for veterans and budding artistes. Budding youngsters should focus on the choice of kritis, keeping in mind the venue and the timings. Some are not plainly suitable for the time of singing. The choice of ragas should reflect their passion. It is heartening to see quite a few coming out successful. Ashwath Narayanan, Vignesh Iswar, G. Abhilash, Kamala Deepti are extremely pleasing.

In the already-known-fast-climbers’ category, quite a few stand out – Sandeep Narayanan, Rithvik Raja, Sriram Parthasarathy, Bharat Sundar, Kunnakudi Balamurali and Ramakrishnan Murthy are amazing.  They bring out a unique selection reflecting their strength, practice and enthusiasm. Rithvik has a wider repertoire, and gauges the mood of the audience before spreading his wares. Sriram ensures the rasikas don’t go away disappointed. Bharat Sundar is not afraid to sing more Tamil kritis. His own composition on “Pancha Bhoothas”, during the inaugural concert of Chennai Fine Arts, was breath-taking. Such an amazing talent. Kunnakkudi’s alapanaas and brigas are mind-boggling. Ramakrishnan Murthy brings a sense of calmness to the concert. I, personally, would like to see more prominence to Tamil kritis to spread music and bring in more rasikas who can experience it along with the singer.

On the top, “Thalaivar” Sanjay Subrahmanyan sits. The energy and enthusiasm he brings in and takes the entire audience along with him is to be seen to be believed. If “standing ovation” is the yard stick of a musician’s popularity, Sanjay will win it hands-down. Sanjay and his team – fondly called “Men in White” comprising Varadarajan at Violin and Venkatesh at Mridangam receive deafening applause every time.  Sanjay brings out more Tamil compositions into the open than any other. The hours of practice he puts in yield the desired outcome. He brings out rarely-heard ragas and kritis and polishes them in his concerts. Manodharma sangeetham is his forte. A set of his hard-core fans go sabha-hopping...

I wish the either the sabhas or the vocalist introduces the team. Usually, everyone knows the vocalist and primarily troupes in to listen to him/her. Credit should go to the entire team for the performance. As a courtesy, an introduction will go a long way.

I also noticed some singers interact during the concert more than others. Akkarai sisters quip in now and then. So, does Ranjani & Gayathri more to explain the Marathi abhang. Sanjay cracks a joke about the song or brings an unknown fact.  A word about the composition, author, ragam/ thalam as appropriate, if shared by the musician, will go a long way.  More importantly, it will also be a tribute to the author to announce them and thereby convey a sense of gratitude. This is more so when the singer brings out a rare kriti.

On the Harikatha / discourse side, the world is ruled by Smt. Vishaka Hari and Sri Dushyant Sridhar. Vishaka has formulated her own style. You know what to expect. You will get a liberal does of music. In some discourses, I see “Thani avarthanam” goes on for a long time making you wonder if that was a music concert or discourse! 

Kudos to Dushyant, his knowledge, diction and appropriate usage of words are amazing. It will be a question of time before his rasikas form a club. I could see the audience enjoying his discourse on “Mata Saraswati” in Pethachi hall along with Carnatica brothers. On a humorous note, I became richer with Sri Ramanujar, Sri Koorathazhvar and other Vaishnavite titbits more than “Saraswati” at the end of the concert. Mind you, I don’t have anything against all those I have mentioned. It is just that simply the topic was on Saraswati! I wish he also dwelt on Kumara Guruparar who composed "Sakala Kalavalli Malai" in praise of the Goddess. 

On the lecture side, V.Sriram is unbeatable. His trademark research and documentation on whatever topic comes to the fore. His lecture on temples visited by Purandara Dasa at Vani Mahal was very informative. Please do not forget to visit the exhibition on one of the greatest musicians – S.Rajam. Adorning the three sides of the walls is a poster depicting the complete Sishya-Parampara of the musical trinity complete up to the present ages.

Being Margazhi, it is expected that Tiruppavai would feature in the concerts either as something “compulsory” or “relief-provider”! What about Manickavachagar’s Tiruvempavai? Is it relegated? Didn't hear a single concert featuring it.

Venues

The top venues are still Academy, Narada Gana Sabha(NGS), Krishna Gana Sabha and Vani Mahal. Mylapore Fine Arts(MFA) has been refurbished. The only sad thing is that the side walls have been closed. One of the beauties of MFA was the open sides. Now, we cannot long for it anymore!

Some avenues have permanent chairs numbered, labelled, tape affixed or plastic wrapped to indicate either their number or the donor or the intended participant. For example, the first row in Academy is reserved for the President, his guests and other officials. One doesn’t wander around generally in that direction. Some others have used ropes and wooden planks to ensure all the seats move together in one direction and no rasika can readily distort the topography. I could sympathize with the organizers as this, perhaps, has been wrought after some eager-minded rasikas who treat the venue following Rousseau’s principles of equality and liberty!

The same goes in NGS and Vani Mahal too. Some sabhas still use plastic chairs. Some have good bases whilst others do not. You can take some at face value and place your bulk on it without fear or fervour. But I would recommend you always take the precaution as you cannot vouch for the floor evenness.

Some sabhas indulge in measures beating those rasikas who cannot sit quietly in one row and are in constant search of a better seat. For them, even if the hall is near empty, they cannot keep still. They will wander around constantly in search of utopia. The only problem is that when they find the right seat, the original concert would be over the next set of artistes start trouping in! To tackle those, between every band of ticket (Rs 600 to Rs 1000, Rs 1000 to Rs 1500 etc.), there suddenly springs a massive chair tied using all material including iron chains, tape, clothes etc. to prevent rasikas jumping in. Not that, it has deterred the over enthusiastic ones! I heard that in a few sabhas they plan to increase the height of that blocking chair. Perhaps, they have taken a cue from the Chennai traffic police whose sole duty is lay medians in streets that don’t have and raise the median height where they are.

I wish the sabhas pay attention to acoustics more seriously. Except a few, it is difficult not to notice the constant struggle of the performing artistes. If the vocalist is satisfied, the violinist is not. He or she wants to assert the unique place of the instrument and wants sound tested properly. Not to be outdone, the mridangam artiste steps in to check his mike. This disrupts the serene atmosphere and plays spoilsport.

Food

Clearly, Chennai follows a set pattern. The only change this year is at the Music Academy. It is not Mint Padmanabhan but Thaligai Pattappa at the Academy – one giant being replaced by another! No relief on the prices though!  

Some caterers are very clear about the audience. They are very conscious about the notice board, venue arrangements and the photos. Same ink. Same colour. Same photos. Same position year after year. High marks for consistency across the years.

Mountbatten Mani Iyer rules at Parthasarathy Sabha. The usual specials in the form of Vazhaipoo vada, Cauliflower vada, Kanchipuram Idly are all there. The price doesn’t seem to deter the crowd. I went on the inaugural day and was welcomed with kesari (Don’t get me wrong. I am not a dignitary. Everyone was welcomed in the same way). After the senses have been lulled, what does one do? One ventures further. I succumbed to that and went to order quite a few items – nothing special though just Idlis/ Dosas/ Vadas not minding the protests of my wife. That day, the digestion of the food was extremely swift upon seeing the bill. Meals are charged at Rs 390!

Pattappa charges Rs 300 for full meals. Of course, for the uninitiated, there is choice in the form of set meals that lessens the burden. Narada Gana Sabha continues its tryst with Sastha caterers. They stead-fastedly stick to tiffin items and mixed meals throughout the day catering to all pockets. They avoid getting into the full-meals section Sivagami Pethachi hall is served by Mr Venkatesan of Sri Sastha catering. Most definitely value for money. His meals are priced at Rs 225. New year lunch is a treat to have and comes at Rs 250/-. Other tiffin items are very delicious and not pricey. Oh! I have forgotten about the Mylapore Fine Arts served by Bhaskaran & Co. Usual tiffin items and meals at Rs 170. There are no fringe elements in the meal and it delivers. Gnanambika continues its position at Vani Mahal. I also tasted Lakshmi catering serving at Ethiraj hall. It is definitely worth a visit.

Rasikas

The demography of the rasikas spans wide, ranging from youngsters, eager learners, students to the usual music enthusiasts cutting across age barriers.  It is heartening to see youngsters and students debating, discussing and devouring music. I can notice some changes for the better. For example, there is hardly any disturbance when the mridangam artiste starts his “Thani Avarthanam”, unlike in the past when rasikas chose to step out for a break during this time!

However, the indiscriminate usage of mobile phones inside the hall during a concert is simply unacceptable. In most concerts, the audience can be spotted speaking quietly by bending down in their seats! Also, mindless chatter during the “alapanaa” is a distraction to other “rasikas” and the artistes themselves. I was personally a victim to a “Mama” whose morphological movements during the alapanaa of Rithvik Raja at Academy invaded my seat imprisoning me! Some rasikas start clapping a little prematurely anticipating the conclusion of a song or the alapanaa only to be met with more of the same. Reminds you of the college days when clapping is used to signal the artiste to shut down his wares at the earliest?

One suggestion that can be considered is giving a 10-minute interval for concerts longer than 1.5 hours. Look at the advantages. For the artistes, it provides a welcome relief. The artistes can stand up, refresh themselves, rub themselves to restore regular blood circulation after sitting in the same position for hours with numbness setting in, walk around a bit and start afresh more energized. For the audience too, the break may come in handy for the same reasons. Sometimes, a coffee can restore the juices of the rasikas to go back and resume with more fortitude. 

Summary

• The Superstar - Sanjay Subrahmanyan
• Best Traditionalist – Vijay Siva
• Most Underrated Performer - Maharajapuram Ramachandran
• Upcoming Superstar – Ramakrishnan Murthy
• The group that is going to rock – Bharat Sundar and Kunnakudi BMK
• Best Canteen (Overall Quality and value for money) - Sri Sastha at Pethachi hall
• Best full meals (Value for Money) – Bhaskaran caterers at Mylapore Fine Arts
• Best full meals (Spread and value for money) – Sri Sastha at Pethachi hall
• Best mini meals – Sri Sasthalaya caterers at Narada Gana Sabha
• Shouldn’t miss - Ammani Kozhakattai at Mylapore Fine Arts, Vazhaipoo vada at Mount Mani Iyer’s, Ilaneer Payasam at Sasthalaya and New year meals at Sastha, Pethachi hall. If you didn’t try this year, next season is not too far behind.