training industry gains momentum
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Training industry gains momentum: Economic Times News Article
July 6, 2008 by Shalini Verma
Coaching industry has started taking its roots in India. The industry is still in the nascent stage, for it is yet to be tapped and understood properly.
The concept behind coaching, not just talks about academic coaching or sports coaching or mentoring, it is an ongoing relationship which focuses on people/organisations taking action toward the realisation of their visions, goals or desires while maximising their person and professional potential.
According to Sraban Mukherjee, who boasts to have handled major consultancy assignments and conducted more than 100 coaching hours in 2007 with eight clients, besides being a member of International Coaching Federation, USA, the coaching industry is not even one per cent explored in India.
“People and organisations in India are yet to understand the concept behind coaching. Once the importance of the word coaching is understood , the market for coaching business will be automatically established” , said Mukherjee.
Further he added, “In countries like US and UK, coaching is a well established profession. I am expecting the market to grow by 20-30 per cent in India, in next four to five years.” The need for the right career path and stress free life will offer a lot of scope for coaching as a full time career profession.
Talking about coaching industry in India, it’s basically the executive coaching which is gaining prominence these days.
Executive coaching is an experiential and individualised leader development process that builds a leader’s capability to achieve short and long term organisational goals.
The other different kinds of coaching that exist today include life/personal coaching, career coaching, mentor coaching, spiritual coaching, business coaching and relationship coaching. “Whether it is executive coaching or life coaching or any other niche areas of coaching , the bottom line is change.
Hence, it is important to understand the change process so that coaches can navigate with clients in the change journey in a step by step process” , said Mukherjee.
In India, executive coaching is, so far being associated with only a few companies including Hewitt, Grow Talent and Hero Mindmine. Indian School of Business in Hyderabad also conducts regular workshops on executive coaching . “Though a fewer in number, but there are companies like Wipro, Satyam, Hindustan Lever, which are known for having a very good coaching culture in India.
Multinational companies like IBM, Shell, Cadbury are also set to introduce coaching culture in India, very soon. Many are in talks with Hero Mindmine to introduce coaching culture in their respective organisations” , said Mukherjee.
More about Mukherjee: He is a graduate in coaching from ICF, USA, and doctorate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi,
Mukherjee is currently working as the head of HR consulting and leadership coaching in Hero Mindmine Insititute Limited, a HERO group company.
NASSCOM Announces Scores of NASSCOM Assessment of Competence (NAC) Test and Dates for Job Fair, for State of Rajasthan
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Jaipur
NASSCOM, the premier trade body and ‘voice’ of the IT software and service industry in India, today announced the scores for the NASSCOM Assessment of Competence (NAC), that had been held in Rajasthan (Jaipur and Ajmer), in association with the Department of Information Technology & Communication (DoIT&C) and Government of Rajasthan. NASSCOM also announced that a Job fair will be held on March 31st – April 1st 2007 at Maharani’s College, Jaipur for candidates who appeared for the NAC test on November 18th 2006. The score cards for these have been dispatched to candidates, however, in case this has not been received, or any other queries candidates should write to [email protected], or collect it before March 25th 2007, from Department of Information Technology & Communication (DoIT&C), 1st Floor, B – Block, Yojana Bhawan, Tilak Marg, C- Scheme, Jaipur, Rajasthan; for enquiries write to [email protected]. NASSCOM and Hewitt, with active participation of ITES-BPO industry players, designed NAC, a national assessment and certification program, which is aimed at creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent by transforming the "trainable" workforce into an "employable workforce”. The Indian ITES-BPO industry has been on a high–growth path, according to the NASSCOM-McKinsey Report 2005, India could face a shortage of skilled workforce in the next decade, particular in ITES-BPO industry, unless corrective measures are put in place urgently. Currently, only about 25% of technical graduates and 10-15% of general college graduates are suitable for employment in the offshore IT and BPO industries, respectively. As countries from around the world enter the offshore market, it is necessary that India must improve the quality and skills of its workforce. NAC aims to address the potential talent shortage by creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent through a standard assessment and certification. This will provide insights into the real training and development needs of talent and hence help companies, Governments and Universities develop customized talent development initiatives and programs. At the same time, it will help to tap new talent pools in comparatively remote parts of the country, through a common assessment accessible easily to all. Sangeeta Gupta, Vice President, NASSCOM said “The response we have got from the state of Rajasthan has been very encouraging, with 2500 students appearing for the test. This is an indication of the potential that exists in the state, and ITeS BPO companies are more than eager to tap into talent from these states. We are hopeful that this initiative will be a major means of bridging the short distance which, today, stands between Indian graduates and the industry’s requirements, through the world class testing, certification and skill-set identifying methodologies being used for NAC.” The following nation-wide rollout to other states will create a continuous stream of talent for the
Indian ITES BPO industry and maintain India’s leadership position in this space. NAC will also ensure stabilisation of costs in the ITES-BPO industry by enhancing the supply. Background about NACNASSCOM and Hewitt have been working with Indian ITES-BPO industry to create a national assessment and certification program – NAC. The initiative is aimed at creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent. This will be done by continuously assessing candidates on key skills through a national standard assessment, thus making it easier for firms to screen candidates and also provide training need analysis to candidates. This will then be tied in to training and development efforts to help more candidates become competent to work in the industry. Hewitt Associates is the Program Manager for the NAC, and is responsible for designing and rolling out NAC on behalf of NASSCOM and Indian ITES-BPO players. The NAC pilot testing phase was officially launched in August 2005 and successfully completed by testing approximately 6,000 candidates across various ITES-BPO companies, till now. NAC is aimed at creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent. This will be achieved by assessing candidates on key skills through a national standard assessment. The scores obtained by candidates will help organisations screen them and determine training needs for individuals. Hewitt Associates is the Program Manager for the NAC, and is responsible for designing and rolling out NAC on behalf of NASSCOM and Indian ITES-BPO players. Key benefits of NAC
1. NAC will increase the reach of ITES–BPO industry to tier II and tier III cities for their sourcing requirements; and additionally will spread awareness about job opportunities in the ITES-BPO industry
2. Industrya) Creation of a national standard for recruitment of entry level talent b) Substantial cost savings and reduced cycle time for talent sourcing c) Ease of benchmarking for individual processes with industry standards d) Ability to create visibility and reach out to a larger audience
3. Job aspirantsa) A common, transparent process across companies in the ITES-BPO sector b) Ability to identify their strengths and weaknesses and self-assess training needs
4. Training Firmsa) Insights into the training requirements given the skill gapsb) Inputs to help create and refine training modules which deliver immediate benefits and hence has greater buy-in
5. Governments a) Help explore talent in Tier II and Tier III Cities for industry requirements b) Understanding talent strength areas and areas of improvementc) Employment generation and creation of education to employability linkaged) Help in attracting serious investors by enabling State governments to plan their investment policies basis the ground data about talent availability
NAC - NASSCOM Assessment of Competence A+ A-
NAC - NASSCOM Assessment of Competence Back to Registration PageAn industry Assessment and Certification Standard for creating 'assessed and benchmarked' quality talent pool – The Passport To A BPO CareerPresented by NEDP - NASSCOM's Executive Development Program
1. About NAC – NASSCOM Assessment of Competence 2. Pilot phase I approach
3. Pilot phase II approach
4. Overview of the model
5. Skill Competence – Testing Themes
6. Benefits for the industry
7. Benefits for job aspirants
8. Benefits for training companies
9. Governments' role in NAC
10. National roll-out of NAC has begun
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Rajasthan NAC experience
13. NAC Sample Test Questions
About NAC – NASSCOM Assessment of Competence
The ITeS-BPO industry is growing at an overwhelming pace and giving a major fillip to the Indian economy. India has established its leadership position globally in the offshoring market and now the availability of skilled manpower is one of the key barriers to the fast growth of the industry.
NASSCOM along with program manager, has been working with the Indian ITeS-BPO industry players to create a national assessment and certification program - the NASSCOM Assessment of Competence (NAC). The initiative is aimed at creating a robust and continuous pipeline of talent. This will be done by continuously assessing candidates on key skills through a national standard assessment, thus making it easier for firms to screen candidates and also provide training need analysis to candidates. This will then be tied in to training and development efforts to help more candidates become competent to work in the industry.
NASSCOM is following a multi-pronged approach to facilitate manpower development for the short and long term. By following a two-phase strategy, NASSCOM is aiming to build a pool of ITeS-BPO manpower which will be pre-certified, in tune with the needs of the industry and thereby gear up for the future requirements of the sector.
In Phase I of this initiative, NASSCOM is looking at creating an Assessment and Certification Program which becomes an industry standard and ensures the transformation of a "trainable" workforce into an "employable” workforce.
Pilot phase I approach
In-depth meetings with close to 35 players in the ITeS-BPO industry were conducted to understand their recruitment practices, cause of attrition desired skills in a candidate, etc. Based on this, a job-skill matrix was developed which formed the basis for the design of this assessment program.
Core and Working Committees from the industry were formed and constant interactions were made to make sure that the program has everything that the industry requires in terms of a pre-employment assessment. An evaluation committee was set up to finalize the vendors and decide on the approach to the pilot.
Multi-tier evaluation of the vendors happened after the initial interaction RFI was sent to select 19 vendors. Based on their response, 11 vendors qualified for presentation to evaluation panel. Evaluation panel selected four vendors with whom the project team structured the pilot phase. These vendors provided the content and technology to run the pilot.
Selected companies from the industry, identified by NASSCOM, partnered in deployment of the pilot program. The locations for the first stage of pilot were identified as Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.
Pilot phase II approach
In NAC phase II, NASSCOM would run NAC with identified deemed Universities / Colleges in various states. The target audience for phase II is going to be final-year students who’ll be venturing into the job markets after few months. The intent behind assessing these students is to analyze the level of talent which is available in various parts of India, especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Gauging this would eventually help identify the various regions in India where the readily available ITeS-BPO fit talent pool exists; also the pool that requires certain training before it is ready to join the industry.
Sikkim’s experience(NASSCOM'S focus to promote class B & class C cities for IT employment)
About 450 engineering students from Sikkim-Manipal Institute of Technology (SMIT, Sikkim) sat for NAC assessment on 03-05 March 06.
Under NAC pilot phase-II, SMIT became the first academic body to run NAC. A special session preceded the NAC Assessment where NASSCOM spoke with different departments of SMIT to provide them an understanding on NAC and its objective.
The assessment turned out to be a good "self-assessment" exercise for all the participants. According to the students, this came as an eye-opener for them as they felt that NAC is a well thought of and a well-designed assessment, which ensures to
check the soft skills of a person along with some of the basic academic skills. They realized that irrespective of the academic background a person comes from or the professional aspirations that he/she carries, the skills incorporated in NAC are a "must" for employment.
Overview of the model
Skill Competence - Testing Themes
Name of test Competencies assessed
Keyboard Skills (to be added to the NAC test battery at the end of 2007)
Typing speed, accuracy
Spoken English Voice clarity, fluency, vocabulary, grammar/ sentence construction, accent, situation comprehension
Writing Ability (Multiple Choice & Essay)
Message clarity, comprehension
Listening Comprehension, accent understanding
Numerical and Analytical Numerical ability, logical reasoning, comprehension
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Benefits for the industry
NASSCOM Assessment of Competence will help industry to create an "assessed and certified" talent workforce to cater their "skilled manpower" requirements. Some of the key benefits will be as follows:
1. A national standard for recruitment of entry level talent 2. Substantial cost savings in industry’s sourcing cost
3. Ease of benchmarking for individual processes with industry standards
4. Ability to create visibility and reach out to a larger audience
5. Ability to filter out non-serious candidates and hence have improved efficiency
6. Cost savings through cutting off steps from the recruitment process resulting in reduced cycle time and more efficient utilization of resources
7. Cost savings through reduced training hours in full blown operation
Benefits for job aspirants
For a job aspirant in the ITES-BPO industry, NAC will provide following benefits:
1. A common, transparent process across companies in the ITES-BPO sector 2. No need to go through the same recruitment process at different companies
3. Ability to identify his/ her strengths and weaknesses
4. Ability to self-assess his/her training needs
5. Opportunity to get certified on a national level under NASSCOM
Benefits for training companies
A robust training backend framework is necessarily required to make any assessment successful, which also holds true for NASSCOM Assessment of Competence. There is a need to align this assessment in a manner that it helps the industry with assessment and recruitment of right talent; and also provides training need inputs to the candidates and to the training firms. Also, Educational Institutions and Universities can work to align the curriculum to the changing industry trends on the basis of this assessment.
The key tenets for this alignment are:
The central assessment of candidates will be a filtering criterion for employers and a training need assessment for candidates
The candidates will be advised specific training modules as a part of the result based on their NAC performance
The employers will provide incentives to candidates who come through this assessment
Over time, the intent is that the industry should be hiring candidates only who come through NAC
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Governments' role in NAC
NASSCOM is encouraging State Governments to commit to this program by conducting NAC with their respective deemed universities / colleges. Also, they shall urge other State Governments to align their employment initiatives with NASSCOM Assessment of Competence.
We envisage that NAC will immensely help the industry across India with active participation and support from various State Governments in implementing NAC, which has been designed and developed after due deliberation and support from all industry players across India. Some of the major benefits for State Governments will be as follows:
Employment generation Help in attracting serious investors
Will help create a concept of 'education' to 'employability'
In a nutshell, NAC will enable the following:
S.No. Stakeholder Need Solution
1 Corporate Reduce the burden on recruitment
Benchmarked Candidate Pool
Help assess the recruitment performance
Aggregate historical data and market comparisons
2 Candidates Employment Score and relative benchmarking to the talent market
Skill Building Skill gap analysis and training inputs
3 Other Stakeholders - i.e. State Governments, Universities,
Training and Education
Aggregate analysis of skill levels and its demographic
Training Firms etc Refinements linkages
In addition to the above, NAC will be an open standard and other industries will be welcomed to use the same for their talent benchmarking and recruitment. NASSCOM is open to explore the opportunity of rolling out NAC like assessment in locations beyond India, if the same fits in well with NASSCOM’s members and they demand the same.
National roll-out of NAC has begun
NAC is currently being rolled out in partnership with multiple states in India. In 15-18 months, the NAC is expected to be administered on a fix calendar basis 4-6 times a year; with multiple states signing on for any of the above dates. The NAC pilot testing started on August 20, 2005. Before launching NAC, NASSCOM and industry players judged the success of pilot based on following criteria:
NAC’s alignment to sourcing requirement Feedback on the ability of participating vendors to deliver
Validity post training
Impact on job performance
After the successful completion of pilot, NASSCOM began the process of National roll-out of NAC, which started from the state of Rajasthan. The first NAC administration under this roll-out took place at Jaipur and Ajmer on 18th November 2006. NAC received an overwhelming response and over 2500 candidates were tested on that day.
Rajasthan NAC Job Fair
On 31st March 07–01st April 07, a job fair was conducted at Jaipur for candidates who took NAC test in the month of November 2006 at Rajasthan. This was a step further beyond the assessment platform that was provided to the job aspirants in that region.
Eleven of the top ITES-BPO companies participated in the job fair and some of them even made offers to the candidates on the spot, which basically talks about the success of NAC. A complete analysis will be carried out on this exercise and learning will be incorporated in further similar exercises to churn out better results.
Next states to join the bandwagon are Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, etc. Gradually, over a year’s period, NAC should spread across 25-30 cities in India.
For further details on NAC - please contact contact Dr. Sandhya Chintala, Director – Education Initiatives/ Nikhil Gupta, Senior Associate at [email protected]
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where does Indian ITeS-BPO industry stand today?Indian ITeS-BPO sector industry continues to grow from strength to strength, witnessing high levels of activity - both onshore as well as offshore. The last year witnessed vendors move up the value-chain to offer higher-end research and analytics services to their MNC clients. The industry clocked export revenue of US$ 5.2 billion in FY 2004-05 registering a 40% growth from FY 2003-04. The ITeS-BPO sector also created around 100,000 jobs in the sector adding the total employment to 348,000 in the same period. According to various research agencies and the ITeS-BPO sector will continue to register phenomenal growth rate and will register revenue of US$ 17-18 billion and employment generation of 1 million people by CY 2009.
What role do ITeS-BPO companies play in NAC?Industry will continue to play the central role in the initiative. For the pilot phase, participating organizations will be expected to contribute resources, wherein they would be required to run NAC with their company employees. Opinions of the organizations, which are not part of the pilot, will also be sought after to ensure that the system being designed has complete alignment with the industry requirements. This, as a whole, would help accomplish the benchmarking for the industry and also for individual companies at a micro level.
During the National roll-out, industry will play a crucial role in lending credibility to the certification and in ensuring that the same gets differentiated in the market amongst other similar products. Companies would support the program by various means and ensure that, over a period of time, hiring at entry level happens only through NAC.
What is the progress on NAC initiative?The process of National roll-out of NAC started from the state of Rajasthan in the month of November 2006. There are multiple states that will be covered gradually. Schedules regarding the same shall be published at NASSCOM website time-to-time and will also be circulated through various media channels.
Who will own this program going forward?NASSCOM, on behalf of the industry, will continue to play the central role. However, the plan is to form a governing council / board to oversee the initiative and its overall working. The business model of this program will fund the governing body’s functions.
Are there any training programs / courses that I can attend before joining the industry?However NAC encapsulates skills which are very basic in nature, you may still get yourself trained on certain specific areas which you feel seeking improvement on. The ITeS-BPO industry is vertical specific i.e. the work done at any ITeS-BPO organization mainly caters to industry verticals like BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance), Administration, Sales, Marketing, Research and any process which is not core to the customer. An experience in related industry vertical would also be helpful. The ITeS-BPO sector worldwide is customer centric and you need to cat all levels of hierarchy with various kinds of soft skills.
How will this certification program benefit me?This program will provide you with your scores on different skills captured in NAC. You can apply to different companies across India on the basis of these scores and need not go through similar selection processes at different companies.
How can I participate in the program?NAC has started to tap multiple states of India, Rajasthan being the very first, where NAC was administered in November 2006. As NAC reaches your city, you shall get to know so through various media channels / promotional activities and you can then get yourself enrolled for the same.
What is the basic qualification required to participate in the program?The minimum qualification required is graduation (10+2+3)
Do I need to pay for this program?Once the NAC national launch happens, candidates will have to pay a nominal registration fee. Details will be notified at the time of launch of the program.
What are the skills being assessed?Please see – “Skill Competence - Testing Themes”
Will people have access to NAC from small towns like Trivandrum or Guwahati?After national roll-out takes place, candidates will be able to appear for NAC even from small towns; however, it would be a gradual process, as explained above. We envisage that in a year’s time from now, NAC will be available in 30-35 cities across India.
Whom should we contact at NASSCOM for further details?For further details on NAC,please contact Dr. Sandhya Chintala – Director, Education Initiatives/ Nikhil Gupta, Senior Associate at [email protected]
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Rajasthan NAC Experience
Successful conduct of NAC at Rajasthan was nothing short than achieving a milestone as it was accepted to the highest degree by the young ITES-BPO job aspirants and as a result, over 2500 candidates were test on a single day, i.e. 18th November 2006. The initiative was supported by Department of IT&C, Department of Higher Education, Department of Technical Education - Government of Rajasthan.
Prior to administration of NAC, awareness needed to be generated amongst common people about NAC, its objectives and its future. To meet the purpose, various colleges / universities in Rajasthan were talked to and briefed upon the subject and were also invited to participate in the exercise. Promotional campaigns were run with the help of press ads, hoardings and radio etc.
Seminars were conducted at many colleges along with industry representatives and students were educated on ITES-BPO industry and about NAC.
With all this, NAC received an overwhelming response and the test was effectively conducted on 18th November 2006 for 2500+ candidates. Post assessment, the results were provided to the candidates in 2 months’ time and they were also informed about the NAC job fair that was conducted for Rajasthan NAC participants.
After result declaration and certain analyses on the same, NAC job fair was conducted at Jaipur where 11 of top ITES-BPO companies participated and hired candidates. This clearly proved to be a fruitful exercise for all; especially for the local residents as they got the opportunity to get interviewed by companies from even outside Rajasthan.
A complete analysis on job fair exercise shall be performed and be utilized for further similar endeavors with a view to attain better consequences.
NASSCOM Announces Top 15 “Exciting Emerging Companies To Work For”
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Survey looks at HR practices to benchmark the Top 15 Exciting Emerging Companies to work for, in India
A first of its kind of survey analyzing small and medium sized IT-BPO companies as workplaces
NASSCOM, the chamber of commerce and “voice” of the IT software and services industry in India, today released findings of a survey conducted to identify ‘Top 15 Exciting Emerging Companies to Work for’ in IT-BPO sector in India. This is a first such survey by NASSCOM, and also the first of its kind across any industry by far, for the emerging companies segment specifically. The survey was conducted in partnership with Grow Talent, a strategic HR consultancy firm.
The objective of this survey was to identify the best small and medium sized IT-BPO companies to work for, within the Rs.250 crore and below annual turnover category, through a set of parameters that are particularly relevant to them, therefore recognizing the fact that the dynamic of this segment is quite different from the large companies.
The Exciting Emerging Companies’ (EEC) survey threw light on several best practices which at times may seem ‘not that necessary’ for a small sized company but are vital for the future growth of the company. Using practices ranging across a wide range of innovative parameters like Balanced Score Card approach for Performance Appraisal to designing of Performance Grade Cards, companies are looking at constantly adding to best practices which make them more attractive for employees, often enhancing productivity simultaneously.
Speaking about the survey and its findings, Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM, said, “The Indian IT industry has set an exceptionally high standard with regard to workplace and employee practices. With the continued growth and rapid evolution of the industry, as well as the changing aspirations of its young workforce, IT companies - small or large - will have to constantly look at innovation to excel as employers. While there are benchmarks that exist across industries, we felt that for the emerging companies segment, it is critical to identify and appreciate the frontrunners, who are employers of choice, and aptly showcase them. We are pleased to release the findings of this survey which clearly demonstrate best practices implemented in these emerging companies which have made them winners not only in this survey but with their employees as well.” He further added, Grow Talent as a partner to the survey has helped NASSCOM and the industry define best practices that can be used as a benchmark for emerging companies.
Conclusion & Guidance
Analysis of the top 15 companies reveals certain distinguishing factors* that makes them an exciting emerging company:
Training & Development: This process was a key differentiator between the top 15 and the other companies. While training was provided at all organizations, a sophisticated approach to the process was missing. For example, an effective training needs analysis must be conducted on the identified needs to arrive at a priority list to determine an appropriate training calendar. Internal training, the most cost-effective training delivery mechanism, can lead to manifold losses, if formal trainer identification is not conducted. Training feedback can add valuable insights to improve the program, but the time at which feedback is sought is also crucial.
Career Management: This is not a solution to the challenge of attrition, but an enabler to overcome the challenge. Most of companies featuring in the Top 15 list have formed a career planning and development mechanism, which typically includes capturing employees’ aspirations and creating individual career plans. Integration between Career Planning, T&D and Performance Appraisal is mandatory to realize complete benefits of any of the system.
Constant and effective communication is paramount for the success of any organization. Communication may take multiple forms such as written or verbal, but the authenticity and consistency of the information increases the engagement levels in an organization and improves the fairness & equity quotient of the organization.
Documentation, the blue-print of any process, was a key differentiator. The presence of policy documents and other relevant documents in the above companies made them high scores in HR processes segment. Ready access to documents for the employee increases their understanding of the processes and policies.
Climate surveys, benchmarking and recreational activities was another key differentiator. The top 15 companies identified above not only conducted climate surveys but also tracked the results to identify improvement areas and initiated appropriate action; a follow-up on the action undertaken was also done.
* The above list of differentiating factor is an indicative and not exhaustive list. Many companies not featuring in the list also undertake some or all of the above stated activities, but the differentiation lies in the perceived value created by the above stated activities for the employees
Survey Process and Model
A 4-part tailor-made procedure was adopted for the EEC survey ensuring that both the Employees’ and the Employers’ perspectives were well reflected:
Online Employee Perception Survey- An on-line survey was designed to tap the employees’ perception of their respective organizations. The on-line survey captures the employees’ take on the Work Environment (WE), Career Development (CD), Job Satisfaction (JS), Reward &
Recognition (R&R) and Fairness & Equity (F&E) as observed and practiced in their organization. It reflects an employee’s perception on the above parameters on the Climate, Attitude and Satisfaction scale. An Employee Satisfaction Score has been generated for each participating firm.
HR Diagnostic Study-A score for each participating company was generated, following an in-depth exercise of meeting their Human Resource personnel, understanding their HR systems and processes, validating their content, studying documentation, comprehending their vision and listening to their employees.
The Industry Panel run-through- The survey panel comprised of NASSCOM’s invitees and industry experts to ensure that no ambiguities were creeping into the system and that there was no experience or expertise bias.
Analysis- The collated data was then calculated and analyzed to arrive at the final list.
About Grow Talent:Grow Talent Company Limited is a strategic HR consulting and change management firm that partners large global and local firms in the People side of their business agenda. Grow Talent provides organization transformation, talent appreciation, leadership development, and coaching services to leading companies in its market. Grow Talent has provided outplacement services to Right Management’s multinational clients for the past few years as a correspondent. In a short span of six years, Grow Talent has grown rapidly to a team of 100 consultants and associates.
IT training industry learns the hard way
The growth of the IT training and education sector is directly proportional to the ups and downs of the software sector. But though the IT and ITeS markets have been growing, the training industry has not been able to keep up. Will 2004 prove to be any different? STANLEY GLANCY attempts to answer the question
AFTER the brouhaha of the previous years, the dust is finally settling in the Indian IT training sector. A quiet calm of sorts has descended following the rite of passage from those euphoric days when the industry rode high on the Y2K and dot-com wave to the resonating crash that followed. The last couple of years have been especially difficult for the IT training industry. Beleaguered by the IT slowdown and the global economic recession, plus 9/11 and its aftermath, not many could survive the carnage. But the thoroughly-shaken industry is now witnessing a coming of age. The last year saw the industry enter a phase of consolidation.
This, in addition to the ouster of fly-by-night operators, means that there are far fewer players left in the arena today. For instance, Aptech as we know it today is a conglomeration of three of yesterday’s leading brands—Aptech Computer Education, SSI
Education and Arena Multimedia.
While this has strengthened the market share of leading players, the realisation has also struck that only those with a focus on research and adherence to quality standards stand any chance of surviving the stringent demands of the new IT industry.
The smaller companies, on the other hand, seem to have decided to adopt the strategy of their brethren in the IT industry, with most of them focusing on niches in which they have developed certain strengths. This not only guarantees them a dedicated clientele but also the promise of better margins since they don’t have to compete with global majors.
While this may have arrested the downward spiral, margins are still lower than in previous years, and the pressure on pricing is at an all-time high. According to a report released by Nasscom, the IT training market rose to
Rs 1,500 crore in 2002-03 from Rs 1,468 crore in 2001-02. Though this may seem like a positive sign, large players are witnessing lower revenues and margins.
In perspective
2003 was heralded as the year when the IT training industry got back on the recovery track. The fortunes of the players in this space are intrinsically linked to those of the software sector. And with the global economy witnessing a slow but steady revival, the growth graph of the IT training and education sector was expected to see an upward swing. But businesses had learned from the mistakes of the past, and had taken a more cautious note.
Falling IT spends and altered IT priorities had a direct impact on the IT training industry in 2003. Though IT majors have bagged several new orders, the pressure on margins due to a lowering of billing rates per hour, and the increasing scrutiny of new investments in IT, have proved to be a dampener. There has been a rationalisation of salaries of IT professionals, and a demand that IT workers increase their productivity.
The sector saw priorities shifting from ‘build for the future’ to seeking optimum value with quick returns. Thanks to this trend, the training sector saw sluggish growth in the first three quarters of the last calendar year. The CTO/CIO has been under immense pressure to cut costs while showing maximum value; this has resulted in a reluctance to adopt new technology. The unorganised sector was the most affected since many couldn’t handle the challenges posed by the introduction of new technologies.
Growth in 2003 was mainly driven by the ITeS and e-governance sectors, followed by high-end certifications from established players like Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat and Sun Microsystems. The concerns over information security also contributed significantly to overall growth. Explains Pramod Khera, chief executive officer and managing director, Aptech, “The growth of the ITeS segment fuelled the demand for trained manpower in allied industries. Even the software sector showed signs of revival. In addition, there was an increase in demand for multimedia training and institutional training, mainly from the government sector.”
According to Jeetendra Nair, vice president, Karrox Technologies, “2003 can be marked
as the year of upgradations and new technology launches. We saw an increasing demand for specialised courses. But as is the case with anything new, we expected there to be few takers since anything new takes time to stabilise before it is accepted by the market.”
Emerging scenario
Despite the not-so-positive market situation, there is enough potential for IT training institutes to survive and grow in the coming year. If the growth in the software industry is anything to go by, we are headed for a huge shortfall of skilled professionals over the next five years. This fact is reflected in the findings of a Nasscom survey. According to it, the Indian IT services industry is headed for a potential shortfall of 2,35,000 people by 2008, something corroborated by Pradeep Narayanan, head, NIIT Education Business in India. Says he, “Global IT spending is expected to grow by 6-7 percent in the next three years, giving a much-needed boost to the IT sector and in turn, the IT training industry.”
Early indicators suggest there is going to be an increase in IT spending followed by an uptake in IT recruitment. Sharma expects this to help restore confidence in the viability of IT as a career. According to an IDC report, India currently represents 21 percent ($216 million) of the total spending on IT training in the region, and is expected to be the leading contributor in future. This is expected to be driven by a worldwide demand for software development exports. India currently accounts for 60 percent of the total Asia-Pacific demand for IT professionals.
Corporate training is another emerging growth area in the IT training space. The current emphasis on enhancing employee productivity is expected to give a spurt to IT re-skilling as companies endeavour to extract the most out of their IT investments. At present, the corporate training market is estimated to be worth about Rs 100 crore, and is likely to touch Rs 500 crore over the next three years. The e-governance initiatives launched by the central government and various state governments are expected to drive growth in this space.
This trend has also encouraged demand for customised curriculum design and course development. Corporates view training solutions that integrate proprietary processes or work knowledge as more valuable than off-the-shelf content. In addition to the ability to provide customised training, the vendor should also have the ability to deliver content using several delivery methodologies. A vendor with blended offerings of consistent quality provides the broadest opportunity for service and leverages the work product most effectively.
There has also been a perceptible shift from long-term career courses to short-term high-end certifications. This has led to an increased focus on hiring professionals with expertise in specific domains, and business analysts with programming skills. Says Nair, “The current fiscal year is very interestingly positioned since after a gap of three to four years we are seeing the demand for software-related courses and networking-related courses move hand-in-hand. The software segment has, as expected, bounced back very strongly thanks to the outsourcing wave that has been heavily in favour of India. Hence the demand for software professionals has risen exponentially.” The demand has largely been for .NET and J2EE professionals, mainly because most of the projects that have been bagged require expertise in these areas. On the networking side, network storage, WAN solutions (like Cisco’s) and Linux is gaining momentum.
Enabling services
The information technology-enabled services (ITeS) sector has special requirements in terms of training. With the boom in the ITeS segment—coupled with the high level of attrition—retention of manpower has become one of the major challenges facing any call centre. Says Nair, “Despite the high salaries and perks that call centres offer, the problem continues to persist. This has resulted in call centres having to recruit and train manpower on a regular basis.” In an effort to retain manpower, most call centres have a growth path for their agents, i.e. agents to team leaders to team managers to manager operations and so on. Since every profile demands different skill-sets, it is not economically viable for call centres to have their own trainers. Moreover, their core competency is not training but servicing the customers of a client.
Training institutes cover courses like call centre management, advanced interpersonal communication, customer relationship management, e-mail etiquette, professional selling over the phone, business English and social skills. Other than this, training institutes like Karrox also provide specialised modules on accent neutralisation, telephone etiquette and cross-cultural training.
Careers in IT
The BPO sector has been the biggest growth driver in the last year. Most software companies, including the likes of Wipro, Satyam, Cognizant, HCL and Adobe have been conducting massive recruitment drives in this space.
In the software space the demand has mainly been witnessed for experienced software professionals with domain expertise. These include software analysts, domain specialists, information security specialists, integration specialists, database administrators, network specialists and communication engineers.
Database management is another area that is slated to be in demand for the next couple of years. Vendors such as Oracle and Microsoft have been coming up with continuous innovations in this field, and with databases getting implemented across a large number of organisations, the demand for skilled professionals in this area is predicted to be sizeable.
The banking and financial sector has begun adopting Linux, and companies such as Oracle have begun to sell to their client base the benefits of Oracle on Linux. A recent market study by Red Hat estimates that at least 2,00,000 professionals will be required to work on Linux projects in India by end-2004.
One area where we can expect serious skill-set shortfalls is networking. Over the last few years networking has become an essential aspect of IT implementations irrespective of the size of the organisation. This has led to an increased requirement of networking professionals throughout the world, with a huge shortage expected in the coming years. Says Nair, “Networking professionals with multi skill-sets on Windows 2003, Linux, Cisco and UNIX-based operating systems will soon be in huge demand. Experienced networking professionals can look forward to upgrading skills in network storage and network security.”
Information Security (IS) is another area that has been growing at a rapid rate. According
to Sharma, IS has shown a lot of potential in the past year. With most organisations developing a strategic focus on systems and IS, this area is poised to grow rapidly.
Information security
Network security has been a point of discussion in boardrooms across enterprises, thanks to the spate of network breaches. More and more organisations have realised that information forms a vital part of strategy. Businesses have understood the importance of a security manager who can help the company identify its security needs and develop policies and adapt systems to ensure smooth functioning of the business.
According to IDC, the worldwide demand for IS services was approximately $8 billion in 2001, and is estimated to grow to $23.6 billion by 2006. Correspondingly, there has been a growing demand for IS professionals. Nasscom pegs the current demand for such professionals at over 18,000 in India and over 60,000 worldwide. This is estimated to grow to over 77,000 in India and 1,88,000 worldwide by 2008. At this rate, by 2008, IDC expects a shortfall of over 1,00,000 IS professionals globally. Thus IS demand, which today accounts for about 3 percent of overall IT workforce demand, is expected to rise to around 5-6 percent by 2008. Informs Nair, “We are observing an increase in demand for network security among IT professionals, and we envisage that non-IT professionals will obtain user-level training at a latter stage.”
The growth has fuelled demand for various specialised security professionals—firewall analysts, incident handlers, cyber law experts, security trainers, crypto analysts, PKI and even cyber insurance analysts. According to Khera, there has been high demand in areas like creating IS policies, configuration of firewalls, administration of operating systems, conducting IS audits, disaster recovery and planning.
This has not been matched by a corresponding increase in the availability of trained IS professionals. The chasm between demand and supply is so wide that in the last one year, 70 percent of IT recruitment classifieds have been for security managers. The phenomenon is not unique to India alone. In the United States, there is expected to be a shortfall of about 25,000-50,000 IS professionals over the next few years. It is estimated that in India less than 2,500 professionals have specific IS skills; this represents a minuscule 0.5 percent of the IT workforce. Further, less than 10,000 professionals have a working knowledge of IS.
All this has made IS one of the best-paid careers. In the US, an entry-level IS professional can demand a salary of $75,000-$80,000 per annum, with those at the higher end earning around $150,000.
Notes Sharma, “India can well leverage its growing expertise in IS provided we ramp up the number of IS professionals in the country; not only to meet our own requirements but also to build a surplus that can be leveraged for global requirements.”
Training modes
Today, instructor-led training is being supplemented by e-learning. A combination of instructor-led, CD-ROM-based and online training is slowly but steadily becoming the preferred mode of content delivery. According to Nair, comfort levels for IT professionals are relatively higher with ILT. While this may be the case, studies have shown that
results are much better when they are blended with training aids like course delivery slides, session-wise courseware and market-relevant examples.
Integrated learning is also slowly emerging as the de facto standard. The system combines classroom and e-learning products and services to create an effective learning experience. This model provides individual learners and training managers various advantages because it allows both groups to tie learning solutions to business objectives. The model enables the option of selecting the methods of training that work best within the determined budget.
In the classroom, the instructor provides familiar learning methods such as lectures, discussions, media access (Web, reading, video, audio), activities (labs, experiments, teams, problem-solving), and access to experts. The concept of technology-based blended learning environments has made collaborative learning a reality today. Blended learning environments attempt to bring together aspects of classroom teaching with the technology elements of e-learning to emulate classroom instruction. Blended learning solutions typically present a course of study that is serialised between technology-based and traditional (or virtual) classroom delivery, supported with additional technologies that facilitate interaction between students and instructors.
Concerns
The challenge for training institutes is to create professionals who are able to apply technology to a domain area. An ad hoc approach to training, unclear quality focus, long decision-making process and lack of conviction within the organisation about the role of training in enhancing RoI from IT are issues that have affected this sector. With the rapid pace at which new technologies come up, it is an increasing challenge to offer the latest at the earliest possible time. This has become a matter of market leadership and survival. Also, with the market opening up, there is an increasing trend of employees preferring a network deployment and software engineer’s job. Hence, if an enterprise’s standards of recruitment are high, it can be difficult to absorb good talent as trainers and even more difficult to retain them. This is a crucial element since trainers form the heart of the business. But Khera feels that as long as players can provide value and remain relevant to changing needs, long-term players will continue to thrive.
Imperatives
Most training service providers have now adopted the strategy of growing market share through new product launches and aggressive marketing. NIIT, for instance, has invested in product development, thereby creating a much finer segmentation of its products and customising them to address a much wider canvas that includes the IT and the IT-assisted education arena.
On the other hand, New Horizons believes in partnering with its customers and delivering value-based training. The company constantly conducts surveys of the Indian job market to identify training needs in various segments.
Aptech has been making forays into universities, colleges and education research. Another key opportunity that Aptech has identified is in the area of content development. The company has been offering these services to third-party clients for developing their content, customising them, or conversion into digital content. Khera believes good opportunities exist in this space since international companies can outsource their
content development work to India. Aptech is currently setting up a dedicated offshore development factory for content conversion and development at Chennai.
According to Nair, there are certain imperatives to be met by Indian players if they wish to survive in the long run—quality, best trainers, best infrastructure and courseware, certification and after-training support. Unless players have this in place, no other strategy will count for much.
Expectations for 2004
The IT training industry has emerged as a mature one with a market that is demanding but growing. The market is looking at turnkey solutions for fulfilling the customer’s need for quality-trained manpower. Consequently, the industry will need to look beyond the immediate student as its customer. The employer of the student is the buyer of the product from the training industry. Organisations will have to re-orient themselves with a solution-selling approach. Products and offerings will have to be customised to individual client requirements, and the performance of the product will have to be guaranteed.
While this may appear to be a tall order for the relatively young training industry, there can be no short-cuts. Says Khera, “There is a huge demand for quality manpower in the IT industry; the training industry can either transform itself to grab this opportunity or get relegated to an insignificant part of the IT industry revolution that is sweeping the country.”Growth will basically centre on high-end training and short-term certification courses, especially in the areas of security, networking and development. 2004 should emerge as a year where the impact of job growth and booming software sales will finally impact the IT training industry positively.
Trends in the training space Companies have cut down their IT spending, and priorities have changed.
Spending priorities have shifted from ‘build for the future’ to ‘seeking maximum value with immediate payoff.’
CIOs are under increasing pressure to justify IT investments against RoI.
The training services market saw sluggish sales in the first three quarters of 2003, and this has begun picking up only in the last quarter.
E-learning’s value proposition remains strong, but adoption rates have been slow thanks to the reluctance to adopt new technologies at a time of cost containment.
The fastest-growing segments in 2003 were high-end certifications from established players like Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat and Sun Microsystems, and security-related courses.
The blanket, hyped-up demand for all types of courses has been replaced with demand for specific, time-bound courses.
Global IT spending is expected to grow by 6-7 percent in the next three years, giving a boost to the IT and the IT-training industry.
IT jobs are back. Over 1.1 million jobs for Indian youth by 2008.
IT continues to be the fastest-growing occupation according to the US department of labour.
ITeS and BPO are the new sunrise markets.
Multimedia skills are gaining popularity.
Global outlook
The global IT training industry is growing at a steady pace. According to IDC forecasts, worldwide IT training revenues will increase at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12 percent, from $19.4 billion in 1999 to almost $34 billion in 2004.
The European, Middle Eastern and African markets saw a slight reduction in the IT training and education outlook for 2003-04. The economic downturn and the perception that spending on training is discretionary are the key challenges in this market.
In the Americas, the training forecast has been reduced to low single-digit growth from the 2004 estimates. In North America, dramatically reduced tax receipts have inhibited spending in the government sector, while e-governance initiatives offset some reluctance with a shift towards Web-based service delivery (a content opportunity) and e-learning (a delivery opportunity). There is an anticipated gradual recovery to sustainable levels by the end of 2004. In Asia/Pacific, the corporate market is the primary force driving IT education and training.
The China syndrome
The hype surrounding the Chinese market finally seems to be settling down. Indian IT companies have realised that the Chinese market poses numerous challenges though it still holds a lot of potential for Indian IT training and education service providers.
According to IDC, in 2004 the Chinese market will consume nearly $30 billion in IT products and services, and will continue to grow at about four times the global rate. Notes Sharma, “Chinese businesses have finally built enough basic IT infrastructure to drive very strong growth in software and services. In 2004 and beyond, each segment will grow at double the rate of hardware spending.” Last year, software and services totalled just 28 percent of all IT spending, but the coming year should see this figure jump to over 30 percent—and to almost 40 percent by 2007.
Narayanan seconds this: “The software and services industry in China has set an ambitious target to propel the current $1.5 billion in exports to $5 billion by 2005. To meet this ambitious goal, China will need to step up the number of IT professionals from 5,90,000 to 8,00,000 by 2005.” NIIT, which started operations in China in 1998, already boasts 130 centres in 25 provinces in that country.
Nair thinks that the key is to identify the right partner and establish operational efficiency taking into consideration the delivery
mechanism, linguistic barriers, translation of courseware and the domestic environment. This is exactly what some players have done. Aptech, for instance, initiated operations in China in 2000 through its joint venture Aptech Beida Jadebird IT, an affiliate of Beijing University.
The Chinese market is different from other markets since apart from the language issue, the training provider has to take into account the background of the students and the culture of the country so as to make the course relevant to the market. Aptech not only had to translate its courses into Mandarin, but also had to include modules for teaching English to students since this was expected to help them get jobs in multinationals and in organisations outside China.
Certifications bonanza
Surveys show that information technology professionals holding certifications make more money than those who are not certified. According to Sharma, there is no greater influence in an IT professional’s career than certification, especially when one is just starting out in one’s career, and needs external ratification of skill-sets and capabilities. “It is a foot in the door, a differentiator that can act as a validation for promotion.”
Information managers have realised that certifications take a more practical approach compared to theoretical training. Also, certifications are based on the requirements of the industry and hence provide more clarity to participants. According to Shankar Iyer, head, Learning Services, Red Hat India, this year a wide range of new certifications is expected since the industry itself is undergoing a major change to meet quality standards.
Red Hat, for instance, expects to see 100 percent growth in demand for its certifications. The main reason for this is that Red Hat expects to see demand for training on open source to increase exponentially over the next 12 months. This can be attributed to the adoption of Linux and open source products. Many large organisations and individuals have been increasingly requesting training on clustering, migrations, kernel internals, etc.
Certification hopefuls can choose from e-learning, multimedia, boot camps, videos, flashcards and book-based learning. There has also been a phenomenal increase in professional certifications like MCSE-Win 2003, MCSD on .NET, CCNA, CCNP, PIX Firewalls, Linux and Java, to name a few. The main concern that still remains is maintaining the quality of delivery and meeting the expectations of the participants.
Training majors enter global expansion phase
>> TRAIL BLAZERS
With the domestic training industry facing a slump in growth, training majors are looking at business expansion with a global perspective. Rajneesh De examines what this means for the
training industry in India and finds that private training institutes are realigning themselves to find new avenues for growth Training: Top Trends
Private initiatives in education to continue; further expansion to foreign shores. Emergence of fewer, but much stronger players.
Linux and networking certification courses will increase; more demand for multimedia and embedded technology courses.
Hybrid model of course delivery.
Long-term software engineering courses will thrive along with high-end, niche software courses for retraining.
When the Indian software industry was faced with its first real crisis following the downturn in 2001, a considerable portion of the impact was also deflected onto the Indian IT education and training industry. As a result, even some training majors found themselves faced with negative growth rates, after having enjoyed handsome year-on-year growth for over a decade. It’s difficult to reconcile with the fact that an industry worth Rs 2,500 crore is going through rough weather. But the very fact that it witnessed a growth rate of only around 10 percent in 2001-02 as against the 35 percent levels that had more or less become the norm over the past few years, lends credence to the argument that the training industry is not exactly in the pink of health.However, according to most industry experts, though the downturn for the training sector was a direct impact of the slowdown in the software sector, the silver lining was that it turned out to be a long overdue industry correction. And the prediction is that even 2002-03 will see only a similar 10-15 percent growth, with the market reaching Rs 3,475 crore by 2004. This will make India the leader in IT training in the Asia-Pacific region, witnessing a 7 percent jump from the current market share of 21 percent.Does this mean that 2002 will in fact not be the end of the road for private initiatives in IT training in India, as many sceptics would have us believe? That’s what Rajendra Pawar, chairman, NIIT, feels as he continues to be convinced that IT will offer much more promising career options than most other fields, in spite of the temporary slowdown. Even in 2002, private initiatives in education will continue to create new mechanisms to build manpower for IT in the non-formal sector. Perhaps, it would be supplementing what is happening in the formal sector as well, where a concerted effort is now being made by the government to impart quality computer education in degree colleges.But what are going to be these new mechanisms in the training sector in 2002? The industry correction of 2001 would lead to many more players being negatively impacted, with customers differentiating between institutes on the basis of their fundamentals. This cleaning up process is likely to continue throughout 2002, eliminating a lot of mediocre players and in the process leading to the emergence of fewer, but much stronger players those who have
solid business models, strong process capability, and a rich legacy of customer confidence and goodwill. No more shortcutsA sobering effect of the slowdown and the resulting correction is that shortcuts are now passé. Institution building is a long process that involves years of investment in core values like ability to innovate, commitment to quality, good results sustained over a long period of time, and most importantly, an in-depth understanding of the market. Segmentation of training offerings on the basis of diverse requirements of consumers would be the need of the hour. This applies to programmes in advanced areas for IT professionals, study programmes for students seeking careers in computers or short programmes for those who simply want to be computer literate.A significant trend of 2002 is going to be the realisation by both the employer and the student that there is no shortcut to success, driving them to opt for longer, fundamentals-oriented courses rather than short-term skills-based programmes. New learners will be challenged to keep up with emerging digital tools, as employers can now take the time to look for people with the right skills. The beneficiaries will be computer professionals who have taken the trouble to arm themselves with a sound grounding in core technologies and then equip themselves with the right skill-set. So, just as the dot com shakeout forced companies to pay attention to fundamentals, students will be challenged to be on their toes, instead of only looking to get rich quick. Educational institutions will also be challenged to anticipate market shifts, while at the same time not going overboard on every new technology fad.Courses for 2002Therefore, the question that becomes imperative is, what sort of courses would be the driver for growth in 2002? Kishansinh Gohil, head, Aptech Computer Education, believes that there would be a lot of interest in career courses that stress on improving fundamentals of students and giving them a thorough grounding in IT skills. Long-term software engineering courses are likely to thrive along with high-end, niche software courses for retraining or enhancing skills of existing software professionals. Short-term courses could become the likely victim, thereby wiping out a majority of the nearly 5,000-odd fringe players in the training sector. These are mainly the ‘mom-and-pop’ outfits, running out of a single room, hooked up with a couple of computers, usually in the SEC B and C towns, but accounting for almost one-half of the Rs 2,500 crore industry. As a result, 2002-03 could see the 10 largest operators who make up the rest of the industry, consolidating operations and grabbing a much larger chunk of the pie. The technologies that will be in demand in 2002-03 are Unix and C, networking, multimedia, frameworks, embedded technology and call centre operations. Not only plain vanilla Unix, but even variants like Linux, which had already gained popularity in the last two years, would grow further this year. With Linux expected to grow by 80 percent over the next 3-4 years in India, more and more students are likely to enroll into certification courses teaching different Linux distributions like Red Hat, SuSe, Caldera, Corel and Mandrake. Networking courses
too are likely to have a large number of takers, with Cisco certification occupying the top slot. However, the popularity of erstwhile chartbusters like Microsoft and Novell certification courses seem to be gradually on the wane.Multimedia will continue to be the other crowd puller for the training industry in 2002. A major bottleneck for all Indian animation houses still remains the lack of trained animators, with there being only 15,000 trained professionals currently, as against a Nasscom estimate of a demand for 3,00,000 people by 2008. What we will see more and more in 2002 is studios commencing in-house training, which would over time metamorphose into a separate business offering. Besides generating revenue for animation houses, it guarantees them a captive pool of talent. Another niche area with lot of growth potential this year is embedded systems software like those used in intelligent devices like ATMs, printers, copiers and fax machines. Most engineering students with knowledge of machine- and assembly language progamming are opting for these courses. Also in demand are courses offering training for IT-enabled services like call centres and customer relationship management. Hybrid educationThe coming year is also likely to see the adoption of a hybrid model of delivery, which would include integration of online, technology-based training and class-room facilitation or Instructor Led Training (ILT). Currently, ILT accounts for 87 percent of the IT training market, though by the end of 2002 it is expected to drop to 74 percent, with e-learning and CD-ROM tutorials challenging ILT as an alternative learning medium. While e-learning is not a solution for every training need, it definitely offers a good low-cost answer to complement traditional training methodology.With the domestic market entering into a consolidation phase, 2002 is also likely to witness leaders in the training space further expanding their operations to foreign shores. Pramod Khera, CEO, Aptech, believes that the hugely successful domestic franchisee model for training would be replicated with equal success outside India too. Currently, Aptech has 235 international centres in 52 countries, while NIIT is present in 27 countries with about 150 centres. These include locations like Colombia, Botswana and Vietnam, with many more likely to be added to the roster in 2002. While India Inc is worrying about the Chinese threat, the major training players are likely to gain a strong foothold in mainland China in 2002-03.With most of the training majors also having a software services arm, the year 2002 is likely to witness the demerger of the two businesses. The process started with Aptech in the
beginning of this year with the software arm demerging from the training one and joining hands with group company Hexaware. NIIT is likely to follow suit soon, with other players like SSI, Tulec (Tata Infotech) and CMC (post-TCS acquisition) too having plans of a demerger of their training divisions up their sleeves. The rationale behind this business restructuring for most would be the fact that the training and software businesses have different growth profiles. Their target markets, customer profiles and key success factors are different, with training focused more on a retail audience, while software development is focused on corporate clients.
2008 Top 20 Training Outsourcing Companies
TrainingOutsourcing.com frequently reviews companies that provide training business process outsourcing (BPO) services and conducts assessments to determine suppliers' experience and capabilities. As part of our commitment to the industry and service to our community members, TrainingOutsourcing.com prepares an annual list of "Top 20 Companies in the Training Outsourcing Industry" to help buy-side organizations searching for the right training partner.
The 'Top 20' list recognizes the leading training outsourcing companies for their high quality of services and comprehensive capabilities. All have demonstrated expertise and experience in managing major BPO engagements as well as creating a significant impact on the industry. The primary goal for publishing this prestigious list is to provide corporate, government, and training executives with a directory of highly qualified, successful, and proven training partners. The list should help buy-side companies make informed decisions and improve the costs and quality of learning services that they procure.
Selection to this year's "Top 20 Companies in the Training Outsourcing Industry" was based on the following criteria:
Experience in managing multi-year training business process outsourcing (BPO) engagements Recognition as a leading outsourcing service provider (OSP) in the training industry
Capability to deliver multiple BPO training services
Revenue generated from training BPO services
Potential for growth in training BPO services
Analytics and evaluation methods applied to training BPO services
Strength of clients
Demonstrated strategic alignment of training BPO services with client business goals
Geographic reach
Impact on the training BPO industry
Talent of corporate leadership and professional staff
Breadth of resources
Commitment to the training BPO industry
The 'Top 20' list includes those leaders in the training industry that have demonstrated experience and excellence in providing learning BPO services to a variety of clients.
Because of the diversity of services included in training outsourcing engagements, no attempt is made to rank the ‘Top 20’.
A brief description of each of the ‘Top 20’ companies is displayed when you scroll over the company logos below. You may click on the company logo or name for more information on any of the organizations or you many click on the “contact” name to send an email to the designated company representative.
CGS - Computer Generated Solutions
New York, NY, United StatesPlease contact: Gerrit Veeder
GeoLearning, Inc.
West Des Moines, IA, United StatesPlease contact: Ann Torry
Expertus
Mountain View, CA, United StatesPlease contact: Mike Murrell
Raytheon Professional Services
Dallas, TX, United StatesPlease contact: Peg Albert
KnowledgePool
Berkshire, United KingdomPlease contact: Paul Jefferson
Global Knowledge
Cary, NC, United StatesPlease contact: Nancy Enloe
Convergys
Cincinnati, OH, United StatesPlease contact: Alex Lowrie
Innovatia
Saint John, NB, CanadaPlease contact: Sandra Donnelly
RWD Technologies
Baltimore, MD, United StatesPlease contact: Michael Tumbarello
NIIT Limited
New Delhi, IndiaPlease contact: Kimberley Kelly
Accenture
New York, NY, United StatesPlease contact: Visda Carson
Element K
Rochester, NY, United StatesPlease contact: Dave Snider
General Physics Corporation (GP)
Elkridge, MD, United StatesPlease contact: Jamie Coffey
IBM
Armonk, NY, United StatesPlease contact: See Profile
Delta College Corporate Services
University Center, MI, United StatesPlease contact: Paul Seidel
Adayana Inc.
Indianapolis, IN, United StatesPlease contact: Tom Gahm
Intrepid Learning Solutions
Seattle, WA, United StatesPlease contact: Heather Muir
lioNBRIDGE
Waltham, MA, United StatesPlease contact: Wendy Farrell
ACS
Irving, TX, United StatesPlease contact: Lyn Maize
Logica
London, United KingdomPlease contact: Ian Steward
Development Dimensions International
Bridgeville, PA, United StatesPlease contact: Kelly Bryan