The Hindu Business Line : Learn anytime, anywhere

In a fast-paced business environment, where the shelf life of information is getting shorter by the day, corporations face the challenge of keeping their large, distributed workforce abreast of the latest developments.

Constant skill upgradation is a key issue, especially when the workforce, as is the case with technology companies, or sales organisations, is distributed across locations. Companies such as the Aditya Birla Group, Wipro, the Murugappa group, to name just a few, are taking advantage of innovative learning processes that use virtual platforms.

K.S.Karthik, Co-Founder and Managing Director, 24x7Learning, an elearning solutions provider, in a chat with eWorld, shares his take on this rapidly expanding opportunity. Excerpts.

K.S. Karthik, Co-Founder and Managing Director, 24x7Learning.

How are large corporations addressing their learning, particularly given the spread of their employees? What are the tools and innovations they are using?

The 21st Century Corporation has realised that the shelf life of information has come down exponentially over the last decade and thus there is a need to continuously train its manpower resource. With the breaking down of geographical barriers, business is today conducted across continents.

Till a few years ago, training the geographically distributed workforce was an administrative nightmare for the training manager. Today, with the shrinking of the global workspace, training can be conducted virtually over the Internet to anyone's desktop as long as one is connected to the Internet backbone. Advances in content creation techniques have helped create courses that simulate almost anything and can be learnt over the computer. Today's Learning Management Systems, the backbone over which all Online Learning in an organisation rides, are so robust that complex training and competency-based Skill Gap Analysis and their solutions are managed by just a click of a button. By leveraging technology, the whole enterprise training can be managed centrally by just one or two training managers.

Can virtual learning substitute classroom training in the future?

No. All training has not become virtual. A substantial amount of training is still conducted in the traditional Classroom mode. Nothing can replace human beings. Technology, however, can be a tool for human beings to be more productive and effective in the learning process. Virtual Learning not only helps pre-package courses by experts to be delivered to the learner's desktop for consumption at his own time, but it also facilitates the expert to train more number of students, who are geographically dispersed learners, at the same time, through the Internet, in a classroom-like environment.

Is this learning confined to their professional areas or is it getting broadened? If so, what are those areas?

There is no restriction by way of area of training. Training in areas as diverse as retail, telecom, insurance, banking and biotechnology is possible today through the eLearning mode.

On the trends in the marketplace...

Earlier, adoption of eLearning was restricted to the corporate space alone. Today, acceptance of eLearning in the retail space is increasing. This trend will boost the employable skills of the lakhs of graduates and post-graduates who enter the job market in India. They can get trained through eLearning without having to travel anywhere. Moreover, eLearning is the only way using which a large number can be trained at the same time.

The normal path taken by corporates is to start with a Pilot and offer training on a mandatory skill. Organisations need to sensitise the team on these initiatives to increase usage.

Are trends pointing towards outsourcing this aspect globally and in India?

Very much. Within India itself, 24x7 Learning has received enquiries from large conglomerates and educational institutions, too, to outsource the complete running of their Virtual Learning set-up. In this era of specialisation, this is the natural step forward as organisations then concentrate on what they are best at — conducting their own business.

How big is the virtual learning industry now and where is it heading?

As per IDCs estimates, the online learning industry is in the range of $23 billion and growing at 35 per cent. Since India is a late starter in this space, the present figures are very low. Since India has the largest concentration of knowledge workers, the need for eLearning is very high, and the growth rate of eLearning in India is slated to be above 300 per cent on a smaller base.

What users says

What users of 24x7Learning's products say:

The "Ashok Leyland Virtual Campus (ALVC) is a unique experience for us. We feel that we have adopted many unconventional approaches to e-learning, most prominent being the `bottom-up approach'," says Bhoon K S Brigadier, Director, Ashok Leyland Management Development Centre, Hosur.

In the case of ALVC, the best is yet to come and that best is "To become the e-learning Idol of Manufacturing Companies in India."

Brigadier says, "We have been using the Virtual Campus concept since November 2003 and have covered about 10 per cent executives so far. The impact has been positive.

To tap the complete benefits of this eLearning, with the bottom-up approach, we capture the junior management, always eager to learn. This culture will spread upwards," he says.

"The pilot phase of eLearning solutions was deployed between February and April 2004 with 50 users and 30 courses.

The real-time deployment took place in October 2004. The current usage statistics are 80 courses and 200 users.

The crucial factor in deciding to implement eLearning was to train engineers who could not attend classroom training for three-five days at a stretch due to various constraints.

Since October 2004, about 180 engineers have been trained in various technical and soft skills domains.

eLearning has advanced our reach in terms of number of people trained, dramatically," says M. Srinivas Rao, Director, NETSOL.

vrishi@thehindu.co.in

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