Reskilling Will Redefine Indian IT Firms’ Biz Model

Recruitments for niche technologies have particularly gone up. The demand of talent for niche technologies is forcing us to create a robust ‘build plus bring’ strategy for managing this capability. Even though skilling is done internally, IT companies are also seeking the help of many skill-based specialised training providers such as Edureka, Jigsaw Academy, Simplilearn, among others,” he said.

The global IT industry, which is now valued around $146 billion, is undergoing dramatic changes as the technology landscape led by social, cloud, analytics, automation and mobility, and calls for skill sets which are niche and specialised. Since client centricity is the driving force for service delivery, IT companies find an innate demand that employees should come up with innovation as a differentiator.

Realising this importance, Indian IT companies are reskilling their talents in newer areas so that the gap can be filled at the earliest, which will help them in unique service delivery. TThe Indian IT sector, which employs over four million people, is looking at these reskilling initiatives in an endeavour to become partner of its clients at a time when the business environment is going through turbulent phases.

Indian IT sector evolved itself by taking various cyclical changes in the industry head on through turbulent times, and looked at every obstacle as a business opportunity. Not to be left behind, they have started the initiative of reskilling their employees form the next journey. In an interaction with Deccan Herald, Mphasis Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director Ganesh Ayyar said the IT sector is undergoing tremendous transformation on a fundamental level which will decide the new champions in the IT world in the next decade. “In an age of digital transformation, focusing on specific areas of business and achieving excellence is the need of the hour. A culture of experimentation within organisations leads to innovation,” said Ayyar.

Reskilling initiatives have been looked at from the perspective of product and services companies which are feeling the heat from the startup wave and companies bring in a platform-centric approach in service delivery and customer acquisition. Here, we have look at reskilling from the prism of lack of high-technology talent for Indian IT companies, as they are taken away by platform-based new age behemoths and startups who have come up with new business models.

Indian IT companies had to face skill deficit during the initial stages, as there was a widening demand-supply gap, fuelled by lack of knowledge and disconnect between the industry and educational institutions. As Indian IT companies grew at a faster pace, and there was more demand for engineering managers, project managers, among others. These skill sets became commodity skills in the market that companies started looking at less experienced managers than experienced ones. Since unlearning was necessitated by technology changes, companies also started recruiting medium and fresher candidates. According to Wipro Vice President and Global Head (Talent Transformation) Vishwas Santurkar, the company introduced Newton’s Cradle as part of its reskilling efforts. “The benefit from Newton’s Cradle is two-fold. Newton’s Cradle provides an opportunity for our experienced employees to engage in high value projects in digital domain and for newer employees to fill in for the experienced employees. The technology landscape is quickly moving towards business requirements in the digital space,” said Santurkar.

“Recruitments for niche technologies have particularly gone up. The demand of talent for niche technologies is forcing us to create a robust ‘build plus bring’ strategy for managing this capability. Even though skilling is done internally, IT companies are also seeking the help of many skill-based specialised training providers such as Edureka, Jigsaw Academy, Simplilearn, among others,” he said.

Proactive reskilling ensures that we are able to address customer requirements in a timely manner and ensure quality in the deliverables. This leads to improved customer satisfaction and confidence. Ability to deliver projects to schedule with high quality ensures a positive impact in client satisfaction.

Phill Simon in his book The Age of the Platform states that, “Without question, the Gang of Four has built the world’s most valuable and powerful business platforms. He states that creating a robust platform does not just hinge on consistently developing great products or services. “Rather, it requires a completely different mind-set. Companies must not only exist, but they must thrive in a state of constant motion. They need to constantly reevaluate and redefine basic precepts such as: What they currently do? How they do it? What they could do? How they could do it? With whom they do it?  How each piece interacts with other parts of its ecosystem and the world at large?

Hope Indian IT companies learn what Phill Simon said and redefine their service delivery and product development.

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