The Hindu Business Line : Incubators help ICS retain managers

THROUGH its incubation programmes, Bangalore-based Infinite Computer Solutions has found the answer to three key HR issues: creating competence, increasing employee motivation and reducing attrition.

The incubation exercise, first started in 2002-03, involved a bunch of 16 resource people who were re-skilled in .Net, a Microsoft technology. According to Mr Rakesh Tiku, Vice-President, Delivery, ICS, this technology group that was being readied for future projects comprised eight existing employees who were re-skilled, while the rest were either located from the company's various locations across the globe or hired for the purpose.

Currently, the company has six such competency centres involved in re-skilling 108 employees in technologies such as Java, .Net, SAP and testing.

"This is like a boot camp where existing resources are trained for three months", explains Mr Tiku. "We focus on creating competence and deploying it," he says.

The process of moving to a higher technology involves a three-pronged approach.

"This is done through training, incubation projects and processes and frameworks related to that technology," he says, adding, "We usually hire for our competency centres, not for our projects."

Currently, ICS employs 650 people at its offshore centre in Bangalore and 1,450 people globally. The company has plans to take the number to 2,000 by the year-end.

The company posted a revenue of Rs 321.5 crore at the end of the financial year 2004.

On how the incubation process has helped ICS in the areas of employee motivation and retention, Mr Tiku says,

"Nearly eighty per cent of the people who were with us when we started the offshore centre are still here and not a single project manager has exited the company."