The single biggest waste of training dollars is when management spends money on training but

doesnt understand why.

Investing in skills isnt something enterprises should do because someone tells them to, but
because its central to their future success.
"Unless we learn from the past, we are condemned to repeat it" - Albert Einstein.


Trends always have the seeds of counter trends within. We want effective detergents, but we also
enjoy homemade soaps from craft shops. Thus while being aware of any trend, we do not slavishly
have to follow it. Once we know what is happening, we still need to think through what is best for
us.


Training & Development
The main reasons for the rapidly growing demand for training and development are for self-
enrichment and survival in response to the chaos of the current workplace. Employees are
realizing that the knowledge and skills they acquired in college are becoming obsolete, and they
need to constantly stay flexible, marketable, and competitive. Japanese companies are as
committed as ever to workers training; and skill development. This will be helpful in combining
over all organizational growth along with personal growth, which enabled fulfillment to the
individual as well as the organization. Training used to be focused more on enabling an
employee to perform his/her current job effectively and efficiently and the evaluation used to be
based on whether it contributes to current strategic goals.
In the modern era as globalization and competition increase training systems have to change
focus. With the knowledge economy enveloping the world, the traditional hierarchical
organizational structures are giving way to flatter and flexible organizational structures. Work
pressures are on the increase due to the increasing stresses and strains. Organizations now work
with flexible teams and an employee is a member of different teams simultaneously. Employees
expectations in terms of responsibility as well as rewards have changed dramatically. Rewards
come when the organizations starts identifying the relationship between the training and bottom
line performance.
To prove this, the American Society For Training and Development Study reveals that 25% of
the companies invested in training got back 24% of the higher profit margins, 50% enjoyed the
Total Shareholder Return i.e. 86% higher than bottom half. When the companys spent $680 per
employee to get suitable training fetched 6% increase in Total Shareholders Return.
Positions of higher responsibilities call for a different attitudinal perspective and hence
methodologies have to be developed which build this attitudinal perspective. In the fast changing
world such a process will strengthen the organization further and makes the organization
competitive. For example, in India, Infosys is imparting leadership training by setting up a
training institute for future leader. From a policy, which began from an assessment of current,
needs of the organization it will now have to encompass even emerging needs of organization.
Suitable training calendars will have to be developed to cover both these aspects as well as
impart skill as well as attitudinal training. Training needs analysis done to identify training gaps
will also undergo suitable changes. The most critical area where top management will have to
play major role will be in terms of suitable budgetary allocations for capability enhancement of
people within the organizations. Training records will have to be suitably maintained and
information technology can play a major role in this aspect to provide learning opportunities to
align with the organizational objectives and manage change effectively to achieve continuous
improvement.

















Trends in training
With a growing need of IT professionals, profusion of technologies and products and
consequent reskilling, the Indian IT training industry is booming
The Indian IT training market can be termed as one of the most matured markets in the
global scenario. Currently, it is estimated to be worth Rs 2,100 crore of which around 10
percent pertains to corporate training i.e around Rs 210 crore. The IT corporate training
market however is growing at a faster pace and this year it is expected to grow at 40
percent. Over the next 3 years it is estimated to be a Rs 600 crore market. Hence, there is
buoyancy and cheer among all IT training companies. The IT training segment can be
classified into the organised and unorganised sectors.
The organised sector
The organised sector comprises those companies that operate from multiple centres and
have been in the market for a decade. These companies invest in people, products and
processes. Their objective is to invest in the industry and offer value to its learners and
students by enhancing their knowledge base and making them job-worthy.
Their general features include having stable operations for more than 10 years, being
professionally managed and having a network of centres (national and a global presence).
They have a good courseware, structured way of delivery, dedicated and state-of-the-art
infrastructure, experience of having trained a few thousand students and a good client base
that keeps coming back to them for reskilling.
The unorganised sector
The companies in the unorganised sector are more like grey market operators in the
hardware segment. Most are opportunity-driven and hence you will find them inconsistent in
their presence in a particular market. These are companies that are predominantly
opportunistic in their approach and not professionally-managed.
Key trends
The IT training industry has witnessed some interesting trends in the last few years. They
are as follows:
Markets are moving from a pure skilling market to a reskilling market
Despite fierce competition, IT technology products continue to co-exist while they
compete thus leading to good multi-skilling opportunities on different platforms and
products for training companies
The expansion model for most companies has moved away from franchising to
setting up own centres
The academic base required for pursuing a career in IT has widened from minimum
of an engineering degree to fresh graduates from other streams
There is a recruitment frenzy at almost all levels of IT companies
Security training is emerging as a new opportunity for advanced high-end training
companies
The IT training segment is quite well segregated between software, networking, IT
security, multimedia and animation segments. Earlier it was largely software-driven
Movements in training industry
The IT training industry is on a growth path with the software and networking sectors on
the upswing. The training industry is dependent on the growth of IT and technology
products in the local and international markets.
With India becoming the hub for IT development, lucrative opportunities available locally
and new products and technologies hitting the marketplace with regular frequency, IT
training never had a better economic climate.
The need for skilled manpower is increasing and with technology upgrades, reskilling will
become an equally big market. With the demand supply gap growing there are abundant
opportunities for a good scalable and sustainable business model.
Segment training
Any IT training company needs to belong to a specific segment or domain. The largest
segments in the IT training industry are software, networking, multimedia and IT security.
Most companies choose their domain and try to operate within the limited products and
courses therein.
The current method being practised is to conduct a requirement analysis and identify the set
of personnel needing training on a variety of products. On such identification, the technical
co-ordinator would finalise indicative schedules and proposed venue.
Moreover, application development is on the rise and the markets are dominated by .Net
and Java technology. Given the reduced supply of experienced professionals in .Net and
Java, development companies are now resorting to picking up raw talent and grooming it to
face the challenges of real-time development. As a measure to entice them, the pay scales
have been quite encouraging.
Business model for expansion
Earlier, franchising was the only form of expansion for the education industry. However,
with complexity of business increasing with time and quality being the buzzword, a few
organised sector companies have moved away from franchising to either the manage-
franchise model (management is looked after by the company) or have ventured into their
own centres.
The margins in the IT training industry continue to be healthy and hence companies with
good fiscal policies believe in investing in own centres rather than franchising and working
on lower margins.
For the client, deployment of latest technology is best used when you have trained
manpower. Productivity enhancement is a tangible benefit and it cuts down a lot of
experimentation that the users would otherwise resort to. Training programmes teach
participants to use the software to the fullest potential thereby cutting down time
requirements and getting the best ROI on their technology deployments. Training as a
culture also helps corporate HR retain their people.
On the technology side, participants aspire for a lot of knowledge initiatives besides money
and constant updating on technologies at most times is a good reason for people to stay
longer in an organisation.
From a training company perspective, its a relationship based marketing model and leads
to constant revenue model. Its an effective B2B model for matured IT training companies to
address and in the process add value to their clients and their own business. Even for their
technical staff, its a new scale or peak that they aspire to reach as a technocrat.
This model has progressed further with companies setting up their own centres at key
locations and appointing franchisees for market penetration. In the marketplace, this is
most often referred to as the hub-and-spoke model and is considered to be one of the
better models of expansion thereby retaining profits through own centres and expanding
marketshare through franchisees.
Growing talent in India
The combination of strong educational system, widely available training infrastructure and
proficiency in English, has allowed India to develop a large and sophisticated software talent
pool for the software services industry.
As per a Nasscom survey, the demand for software professionals is expected to be
approximately 1.1 million people by 2008. However, based on current trends, the supply of
software professionals is projected to be 885,000 by 2008. The Nasscom survey has
highlighted a potential shortfall of 235,000 people by 2008 if current trends of intake of
technical talent in the IT workforce continue.
The role of KarROX
KarROX Technologies offers a single window for all training solutions. It has been in
operation for the last 14 years and over the period grown steadily and consistently. It is
among the few organised sector companies with a presence in about 50 locations in India
and about four locations abroad.
The company says that it is technically advanced and is popular for launching courses on
the latest technologies.
KarROX caters to software training, networking training and IT security training through a
range of courses. This is managed through three different technical teams which have top
notch professionals at the helm of affairs.
What sets it apart from competition are its trainers, technology (latest courses),
courseware, global certification, good infrastructure and student relations.
Anticipating change
KarROXs Board of Directors boasts of top industry names (refer www.karrox.com). Besides
the high-powered board, its high technology investments and partnerships with technology
companies always helps it keep ahead of competition.
Plans
KarROX will aim at a growth of about 60 percent this fiscal year. It plans to consolidate its
leadership in the software, networking and security training space. The company is bullish
about its prospects and expects a good fiscal year ahead for the industry.

What are the latest IT trends in India?

India is one of the IT hubs in the world. With a wide range of IT institutes, companies and entrepreneurs,
India is competing with other IT hubs in the global market. Let us discuss some IT trends in India as follows:
MCTS in India
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist or MCTS in India is becoming highly popular. This programme gives
developer with a simpler and more targeted framework to showcase technical and on-the-job skills.
Students from all across the world prefer MCTS in India.
India as a Prometric Exam Center
A leading U.S company in the test administration industry, Prometric sells a range of services which include
data management capabilities, test development, test delivery etc. This company delivers and administers
tests to approximately 500 clients in the professional, corporate, academic, government and IT markets.
There are many exams which are administered at prometric sites including those from IBM, Microsoft,
USPTO registration examination, Architect Registration Examination etc. India is also ranked as a Prometric
Exam Center. IT students from all over the world flock in India every year as their Prometric Exam Center.
This proves Indias advancement in IT field.
Red Hat Certificate in India
Red Hat has so far been associated to a large extent with its enterprise OS Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red
hat Certificate in India is provided by most of the top IT institutes in India. Red Hat Certificate System
provides a powerful security framework to manage user identities and ensure privacy of communications.
IBM Certification in India
IBM Certification in India is designed for companies, individuals and public organizations to acquire,
optimize, maintain and validate their IT skills. IBM Certification in India is provided only after the course
completion of a particular IT training. However, all the IT institutes in India do not provide IBM Certification
hence; it is advisable to go for a thorough survey before you get enrolled in an IT institute.
Hardware Jobs in India
There is a great demand for hardware jobs in India. The countrys sky-scraping advancement in IT sector
calls for various openings for hardware jobs in India. You can check out the various job portals for various
hardware jobs.

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