India is truly shining. Or so it seems from the increasing demand for customised IT training from the government sector, an institution that has traditionally resisted change of any kind. Ascribe it to the much-hyped feel good factor or the decade-old e-governance dream. Fact is babudom is finally linking IT literacy with the long-term goals of establishing India as an IT superpower. In the process, the men in Gandhi topi seem to have learned a lesson or two from their more enterprising brethren in corporate India.
The mammoth bureaucratic machinery is now assaying to make up for the time lost in decision-making by speeding up the literacy drive. Though a bit late in the day, realisation has finally dawned. Customised IT training has become the latest mantra in bureaucratic circles.
Tailoring a perfect fit
Customised training ensures that only those courses or modules that meet specific objectives of the organisation are taught instead of entire courses at greater costs. For the Rs 1,215 crore education industry, which has been beleaguered by negative growth for the past few years, this comes as a welcome relief.
E-governance represents the most dynamic sector in terms of volumes. Most government organisations are looking at computerising their applications. This calls for specific focus on large-scale end user training on applications that are being computerised.
The government sector largely focuses on key areas like basic IT literacy or end user training, e-governance and IT support services. Generally, employees are divided into different categories, based on the roles they are going to play in computerisation. Further training is provided based on this segregation. Elaborates Ajay Kumar Sharma, president and CEO of New Horizons India, “The first step is IT literacy. It is only after this initial exposure that differentiation, based on the roles and responsibilities of an employee, comes in.” For instance, an accountant will require training in using spreadsheets and databases, and office productivity tools such as Microsoft Office, whereas the EDP and systems department would require training in high-end systems.
Adds Javed Tapia, director of Red Hat, “Training in the government sector addresses various segments—right from user level IT literacy to equipping them with the requisite skills to develop applications that are required in various government departments. For example, the e-governance initiative not only calls for training the government machinery at the end user level but also in development and implementation.”
As of today, 90 percent of training requirements are generated in the end user area and only 10 percent can be classified as IT support services—EDP and systems department. Though the trend is increasingly towards e-governance, the government sector has still a long way to go compared to the corporate sector.
Corporate strategy
Corporates have already taken to customisation in a big way. Today, the corporate training segment is worth Rs 214 crore and is growing at a steady rate of 9 percent year on year. Suren Singh Rasaily, head and senior vice president of NIIT’s Enterprise Learning Solutions, however feels that the corporate training segment could be growing at a rate of 15 to 20 percent per annum, thanks to their willingness to spend on training employees.
According to conservative estimates by Rajiv Sharma, associate vice president at Aptech, generally, the overall IT budget of an organisation is 3-5 percent of the total budget, of which IT training accounts for 0.5 percent. But both Sharma of New Horizons and Rasaily believe that the figures could be much higher than that. Both have estimated the spending on IT training to be anywhere between 2-3 percent of the total IT budget. This is one area where the government sector could emulate its cousins in corporate India.
Factors considered
Organisations consider various factors before opting for customised training, including usability, employee profile, applications of the knowledge gained, how it relates to the organisation’s IT objectives, the time factor, the accessibility of the employee, and the need for incorporating specific industry-oriented examples and exercises. Most organisations work on the basis of its IT policies and long-term business goals. The plans are designed to empower/upgrade the workforce skill sets so as to achieve these objectives.
Tapia albeit feels that the biggest influence is market opportunity. Organi-sations usually take into consideration the requirements that can arise over the next three years and then opt for a course, which can meet this need. This trend can already be witnessed in the government sector. But no two organisations have similar requirements. This is where customisation comes into play.
Training Need Analysis
Customisation necessarily calls for a structured methodology to ensure that the client’s needs are captured and expectations are met to the fullest. To ensure this, most training majors offer a service called the Training Need Analysis (TNA). This programme, if done comprehensively, can gauge the overall training requirements of the company, based on its management vision and overall IT policy. It then considers the manpower requirements and capabilities needed to reach the desired objectives. Based on this, the institute can then formulate training plans, create the right modules and finally deliver it in the manner required. Sharma of New Horizons says that TNA helps analyse the gaps that need to be bridged to achieve greater return on investment.
Once TNA has been completed, most institutes offer training through various mediums—instructor-led training (ILT), computer-based tutorials (CBT), Web-based tutorials (WBT), blended learning and e-learning. Blended learning offers a combination of ILT, CBT and WBT. Both Aptech and NIIT, for instance, offers training through its online initiative called onlinevarsity.com and netvarsity.com respectively. Elaborates Rasaily, “The industry is definitely looking for blended solutions in terms of modes of delivery that include a combination of instructor-led and e-learning, to suits their budgets, geo spread and time requirements.”
The RoI factor
Most organisations are now demanding a measurable RoI on the IT training undertaken by them. This is where New Horizons’ Integrated Learning Manager (ILM) tool comes into play. A company’s real-life working environment is taken into account, and examples and exercises are devised based on this. This modus operandi is specifically incorporated in the case of end user training. Sharma of New Horizons believes that this methodology helps in breaking the mind block of the workforce as they can relate to and see the tangible benefits of using IT automation in their everyday lives.
The demands don’t stop there. Most institutes are today required to provide post-training support via tools like e-learning and help desk. The institutes too take efforts to establish a life-long learning relationship with the client, be it a corporate or a government body. This adds tremendous value to the offering and ensures that an organisation continues to benefit even after the training is over.
Advantage customisation
Customised training helps in better meeting an organisation’s skill set requirements, rather than generic training, which, according to Tapia, serves no purpose. It also plays a significant role in enabling companies to extract greater RoI on IT investment due to inherent advantages such as optimisation of resources. Courses can be customised to blend traditional forms of training with technology-enabled training in a way that meets the organisation’s training goals. This not only saves costs but also saves the employee’s time, as they only learn skills relevant to their jobs and not sit through training on topics they are familiar with. Adds Rasaily, “What the industry is looking for is quality—standard content customised with examples and case studies relevant to their organisation.”
Looking forward
Most companies still tend to opt for ready-made courses, as its takes time and effort to create customised modules. And generally these modules cannot be reused with a different set of people, which makes it seem expensive. Another key issue, according to Sharma of Aptech, is the necessity to create a homogenous group with the same IQ levels, interest levels, and common skill sets.
Organisations need to treat training as an investment for achieving success in the deployment of IT. Government policymakers seem to have realised the importance of quality deliverables rather than a pricing approach.
Opportunities are immense, as the government workforce needs to accomplish its mission of overall computer literacy. The Ministry of Information Technology has been working aggressively towards this end. Merely training users on a mass basis will not suffice in meeting these goals. It’s important for decision-makers to optimally utilise training budgets because as technology keeps changing, bringing with it new tools, customised training will emerge as a necessity.
This article first appeared in IT People.
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