Mikael Gislén

Mikael Gislén

Mikael Gislén, founder and CEO of Gislen Software, the oldest Swedish IT company in India, established in 1994, has over three decades of IT industry experience. Based in Chennai since 1993, he has built an ethical, climate-neutral business that prioritises long-term success and societal impact, founding initiatives like the Little Lambs School for vulnerable children and investing in solar energy to eliminate diesel generators. Under his leadership, Gislen Software has become a trusted partner for Swedish and UK clients, specialising in system integrations and customised solutions. A sought-after speaker on AI, systems integration, outsourcing, and sustainable business, Mikael is also a passionate long-distance runner, blending his personal and professional pursuits to inspire change and growth. On this page he shares his experiences in technology, entrepreneurship and other subjects.

India Trade Deals - A lot is happening in India these days. Are you ready?

India is making great strides. Economic growth is high. In recent weeks, there has been a number of significant news. The new trade agreements with the UK, the EU, and the US will increasingly affect procurement, skills, and growth strategies across Europe. This article attempts to describe some of these changes from an IT perspective.

Cultural Challenges in Software Outsourcing

Explore strategies to navigate Cultural Challenges in software outsourcing for enhanced global collaboration and competitive advantage.

Drawing from more than 30 year history, this article outlines the Cultural Challenges to expect and how to overcome them.

Emerging Risks for European Companies using US cloud services

The present geo-political scenario creates legal and political risks of using US cloud services. As trust erodes you want your data closer to your market. This extensive report dives into the subject and urges European organisations to adopt sovereignty-aware, multi-cloud strategies to ensure compliance and resilience in a volatile world.

A bold path to innovation

Explore how bold innovation is key to thriving in the digital era, highlighting the risks of playing it safe

This article gives some advises on how to not play it too safebased on a Harvard Business Review article.

Autocorrect on Steroids

Have you heard it – “ChatGPT is nothing but auto-correct on steroids”? Well, many believe that, but it is only half of the story. While early AI models just predicted the next word, today’s ChatGPT integrates feedback, reasoning, retrieval, and coding—evolving into a productivity layer that supports, extends, and refines human work.

Preparing for cloud migration

Successful cloud migration requires more than just moving data. This article covers how to set clear goals, choose the right migration strategy (‘6 R’) and plan workload, dependency management, testing and optimisation. We help you equip both your organisation and technology for the future through a successful migration to the cloud.

Safe Outsourcing and Security Measures

Discover safe outsourcing; from benefits to risk management, and how Gislen Software can help you to achieve success through safe outsourcing.

Read and learn how, based on our long experience, to ensure that you maximize the payoff through safe outsourcing

Unlocking employee motivation

Motivating employees in uncertain times requires more than good intentions. To do that there is a need of a holistic approach based on four emotional drives—acquire, bond, comprehend, and defend—to sustain motivation, trust, and performance.

Building a strong corporate culture

What does learning to run a marathon have to do with building a strong corporate culture?

Discover how Gislen Software’s culture of learning, integrity, and excellence drives innovation, builds trust, and delivers high-quality, software solutions.

Blended Outsourcing for Scandinavian Airlines

Blended outsourcing combines the expertise of in-house and external teams, offering a strategic approach to enhance efficiency and innovation.

This model fosters a synergistic partnership, crucial for companies looking to adapt quickly in a rapidly changing market landscape.

Angular, React, Vue and Svelte

Discover the differences between React, Angular, Vue, and Svelte! Dive into the pros and cons of each framework.

This article makes an effort to distinguish between them and will help you choose the best frontend framework for your web project 2024!

Angular 18

Angular 18 was released on 22/5, Among the news are new control flow syntax, Improved Defer Syntax, Zoneless Change Detection, Feature-Based Redirects, Improved ng-content, and Uniform Form Events.

This article contains a review of the main new features, and improvements.

Update from AngularJS

Update your AngularJS application: Step-by-step guide for a secure and modern web experience.

Are you still using AngularJS for your web application? The framework has not been updated since 2021, which could mean security risks and it may not be supported by newer browser updates.

AngularJS to Angular-X

How do you migrate from AngularJS to Angular? In this article, we describe what you should consider, what challenges exist, and how to overcome them.

Upgrading to Angular gives you improved performance, better security, future support, and a better architecture.

Will AI take all the jobs?

Discover that while there will certainly be a lot of disruption, AI will still probably not take all our jobs.

While there is good reason to be prepared since there will be a lot of changes, AI may create new opportunities by augmenting human expertise and addressing labour shortages.

Disengaged - Low engagement at work

Workplace disengagement is increasing. This article, highlights the importance of cultivating a supportive culture fostering individual initiative to reignite employee motivation and productivity.

Insights for both employers and employees!

Crafting a Winning Strategy

Strategy is about consciously designing and implementing well-considered plans that are different from those of competitors, with a particular focus on quality, niche markets and sustainability.

In this article, I share some thoughts and experiences on how to differentiate your business.

Will AI replicate human intelligence?

Nowadays we often hear that AI is likely to soon replicate human intelligence and experience. But is this a realistic claim?

In this article highlights differences between AI and humans in regards to empathy, creativity, and consciousness.

The Enneagram of Personality as a Strategic Tool

The Enneagram model helps manage corporate culture, improve team dynamics, and address business challenges.

This article highlights the importance of understanding diverse behaviours for organisational success.

How AI is reshaping business decision-making

This article explores AI’s transformative impact on business decision-making.

Highlighting advancements in AI technologies like deep learning, predictive analytics, and their strategic applications in enhancing efficiency, customer experiences, and risk management.

Desire line

Embracing Natural User Behaviour in Urban Planning, Software Development, and AI.

This article explores natural routes preferred by users, appear across different fields, from city planning to software design, highlighting the importance of aligning with the desire line.

How to improve Attention Span and get more Productive

In the past 20 years, our attention span has dropped from 2.5 minutes to 47 seconds, mainly due to increased technology use.

This article examines the effects of this shift, debunks multitasking myths, and offers strategies to regain focus.

Work From Home or From the office

The pandemic transformed our professional lives, compelling a mass migration to home offices. The ease of logging on from our living rooms seemed to spell the end for traditional work environments.

Yet, as the tides of the pandemic recede, the office is calling us back, and the reasons are compelling.

Cloud Cost Management

Unlock the secrets of efficient cloud cost management for SMEs. Discover proven techniques to monitor usage, optimise storage, and streamline compute resources.

We want to help you take control of your cloud costs. Please contact us for a free consultation!

Noble-Purpose Leadership

Dive into the transformative world of Noble-Purpose Leadership—a necessary evolution from traditional Servant Leadership.

Discover its core principles, benefits, and real-world applications for driving sustained organisational success and social impact.

Work-Life Harmony

Work-Life Balance doesn’t really work. Instead we need to look for a more holistic way of integrating work and life.

This article suggests to instead look for Work-life Harmony, where life and work are integrated and where you don’t see work as a means to an end but as an important part of your life!

India's moon landing

India’s successful soft-landing on the moon is a reminder of how humanity can reach far when we have a vision and execute it right!

Here is some reflections and learnings which we can apply in our normal day-to-day life here on earth as well!

Carbon neutral company

Becoming carbon-neutral isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ It’s a strategic imperative and it is becoming increasingly important!

This article describes our journey and explains what you can do. It is easier, more cost-effective, and more beneficial than you think

Meetings

Why do we waste so much time in inefficient meeting?

Here are some thoughts on having clear objectives, selective attendance, effective leadership, and follow-ups, aiming at transforming meetings from time-wasters to productive, collaborative platforms.

Pioneering and Strategic Paths

Explore the intricate weave of business strategy through the poetic lens of Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’.

Discover how daring to tread the less traveled path can shape your company’s future and make all the difference in this insightful piece on how to make the right decisions.

Web Scraping Threats

Discover the threat of web scraping and learn how to safeguard your business.

This article gives an understanding of scraping attacks and some strategies to combat them, including CAPTCHA, rate limiting, and Web Application Firewalls

Open Innovation

Open innovation is a key to growth and a in getting more value in outsourcing. When parties join forces with distinct and complementary strengths, remarkable results can be achieved.

This article also shows how mitigation of cultural challenges can yield even more value!

Cyber security

Explore cybersecurity and gain practical insights on what to think of in order to build a successful partnership with a software development firm.

This article gives practical advice on what to consider and how to decide on an outsourcing partner

Debunking the 10% AI threat claim

Is it true that “Half of AI researchers believe there’s a 10% chance AI will kill us all.” Well, the claim is based on a survey with only 162 respondents, and the survey question itself is vague.

So, while we don’t say that AI is harmless, don’t lose any sleep, at least not yet!

agile metrics

Explore the power of metrics in agile development as a tool for continuous improvement and optimisation.

Using the right metrics, make them visible, and use them collaboratively to enhance team performance while steering clear of potential pitfalls.

Agile teams

Discover how to effectively collaborate with outsourced agile development teams and overcome common challenges in this article.

Discover how communication, culture, quality control, and trust contribute to successful projects and foster business growth.

Technical debt is like a Gordian knot

Technical debt is inevitable in software development, resulting from prioritising short-term gains over long-term sustainability.

This article discusses the term and how to effectively untangle the Gordian knot to avoid and reduce technical debts effectively.

Generative Artificial Intelligence

Generative AI raises concerns, prominent figures such as Elon Musk call for a pause in development.

However, recognising the economy’s ability to adapt and grow is crucial. Focusing on economic growth while addressing risks and sensible policies can lead to a promising future for us all.

GPT may be the Spinning Jenny Moment for office workers

Spinning Jenny was one of the most significant innovations of the industrial revolution, disrupting the lives of the working class. Generative AI may have a similar impact on office workers.

This article describes potential god and bad impacts of the last weeks announcements.

OpenAI released GPT-4 on March 14. It is significantly enhanced compared to GPT-3.5 and can now even interpret images. It can work with eight times as much text as its predecessor, and its output quality is significantly improved.

Here is an article which gives some idea about what we can expect!

Taj Mahal - Software Outsourcing to India

Outsourcing being a novelty when Mikael Gislén went to India and started Gislen Software, became a trend in the late 1990s and has since become mainstream. India is still the prime destination for software outsourcing.

This article describes why and what speaks for outsourcing to India.

Green-IT

Green IT is a term which covers how IT can reduce its environmental impact. IT likely stands for more greenhouse gases than air travel and will likely increase its environmental footprint.

This article gives a background to how the IT sector affects the environment and it also suggests ways we all can reduce our environmental footprint.

Artificial Intelligence has been around for more than 50 years. But the use and impact of AI has only exploded in recent years. Improved hardware has increased performance dramatically.

This article gives an overview of the past and current development and some of the benefits and concerns of the expected development.

I attended IT SMF Expo in Stockholm in 2022. In one of the seminars David Jacoby, a famous Swedish hacker, shared some tips on how to improve password security. I have tried to share what I learned but have done so with a few twists.

Why did I select a picture of a horse for an article on Password Security?

How to succeed during the Covid-19 pandemic

Covid-19 and the economic consequences are shaking the ground for almost every business. Here are some learnings from past economic recessions which may be applied to the present.

Winners are proactive and use the time to change and adapt and losers go into survival mode!

Carbon neutral

We are carbon-neutral! We use a combination of solar panels, energy efficiency and offsetting the rest via credits such as trees, wind and hydropower!

We invested in solar panels in 2013. Since then we extended the plant, replaced light tubes with LED, and changed our old ACs to more efficient ACs.

25th anniversary

We celebrated our 25th anniversary at Trident Hotel in Chennai on 25/9. Customers from Sweden and the UK visited us. Present and employees, families and friends from other companies in MEPZ attended.

This blog post describe what happened during the celebration and who attended.

GDPR compliant by May 2018

GDPR has far-reaching consequences. Do you have personal data about customers, suppliers or employees including emails, databases, documents or photos?

This article covers most of what you need to learn and helps you to get GDPR compliant.

Penetration test

This article gives an overview of Penetration tests, attack vectors and how we help our clients to harden Microsoft Dot Net applications ahead of penetration tests.

An overview of how to build safer applications.