The Hindu Business Line : Go for that `telling' effect

Bonjour, comment je peux vous aider ? If you translated that as "Hello! How can I help you?", try this, Wie gehe ich zum Markt? Gotcha! That was "How do I get to the market?" in German.

If you think this has no connection with technology, think a little more. What do you do when your team has been asked to move on site to service a Japanese client? Go mad hunting for a Japanese language-training centre? Wrong! Your employer will organise a training schedule, by the end of which you will pretty much know that Okinawa is not part of Japan.

At the outset of the outsourcing boom, if you knew English, your future was secure. After all it was the Americans you were servicing. One only needed to get a hang of their accent. Then came the UK and one only had to think of another minor accent adaptation. Today one needs to know at least one other foreign tongue apart from English.

New markets

The Gartner report on IT/ITES 2004-05 says the new markets are Europe and the Asia-Pacific. It mentions that the overall BPO market is expected to grow to $173 billion by 2007 and the bulk of growth will come from Western Europe. India started as an outsourcing hub and is now increasingly being seen as a software development centre.

IT companies seem to be caching up with their BPO counterparts in this aspect and are increasingly bent on providing foreign language training to employees to help scout for new business in these markets.

Training centres

TCS has an exclusive centre at Thiruvananthapuram to train employees in at least one foreign language of their choice. Wipro has operations in Japan and many centres to handle business. i-Flex and Polaris have offices in Japan and a dedicated team that handles business from these centres. Patni Computers and HCL Technologies run dedicated off shore Development Centres for business from Japan and South Korea.

It is not just the IT giants who are tapping this market. Small companies such as the Chennai-based Object Frontier Software with revenues of about $2 million are also in the race. Object Frontier is targeting the Canadian market and provides training in French to improve the marketing skills of its employees.

Pie break-up

Though Japan is a major destination for most companies, there is increasing business opportunity in Germany, France, Spain and Russia. Sanjoy Banerjee, Senior Manager, HR, i-Flex Solutions, says, "The Netherlands, France and Germany contribute 22 per cent to our total revenue and this figure is expected to go up in future." The Asia-Pacific Region (or APAC), believed to be worth about $106 billion (about Rs 4,77,000 crore), contributes to 16 per cent of the company's total revenues.

Shiva Ramani, CEO, Slash Support, says in the billion-dollar foreign language market, Germany's share is 30 per cent. Japan follows with 25 per cent, France with 20 per cent and Spanish and the APAC markets such as Japan and China share 25 per cent of the pie.

The size of contracts that most companies look at varies depending on their core competency. iFlex provides finance and banking solutions to 12 of the 56 Tier I banks in Europe. Slash Support offers technical support to Alcatel. It also services Japanese telecom giant NTT in the Infrastructure Management Space.

HCL Technologies has NEC Corp, Japan, as its client and provides services in security and high-performance computing, besides software development.

Object Frontier is mainly targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Europe and APAC and this market is valued at $250 million. "We are looking at 12-15 contracts worth about $2,000 this year from the French-speaking Canadian market alone," says A. James Walter, CEO, Object Frontier Software. He adds that opportunity is also ripe in the European SMEs (excluding UK) market that is valued at $150 million.

The software requirement in these countries, though vertical-specific, doesn't follow a pattern of demand for specific services. "The APAC region requires support in Custom Application Development & Testing, while Packaged Implementation is what European companies look at," says Walter of Object Frontier. i-Flex provides core banking solutions for its Japanese clients apart from consultancy services in areas such as security, business process effectiveness and implementation of Basel II norms.

Slash Support's French clients are particular about software support in various accents of French. Prameela Kalive, Global Head, Human Resources, Zensar Technologies, says, "We focus on Application Portfolio Management and Enterprise Application Services in these countries."

Marketing too

Apart from technical skills, an employee is expected to also market the company's products. Most of the software development happens off shore and the implementation is on-shore. Employees are trained to handle that aspect. But in many instances they are expected to resolve queries pertaining to customer care or HR division also.

"We train our employees in foreign languages that pertain to their vertical of work so that the overall quality of the systems is maintained," says Anbu Rathinavel, Dean, Nalanda - Corporate University, Polaris Software. For this purpose, Polaris offers training modules on cultural differences in business dealings and negotiation tactics.

HCL trains over 50 per cent of its employees in Japanese language and has two distinct sets of people handling technology and communications aspects. Those focusing on technology implementation are trained in basic spoken Japanese while those dealing with communications and marketing learn advanced Japanese.

Some times companies recruit language certified staff and pay them a higher pay packet for their language skills, while others invest anywhere between 5 and 10 per cent of their annual revenues in foreign language training. Zensar invests close to Rs 50 lakh a year on training employees, while many others pay corporate trainers on per hour basis for training their employees.

Leena Mathur, a corporate trainer for German language who has trained employees from HCL, Cognizant and I-Soft among others, says, "Corporates pay Rs 800-1,000 per hour for beginner-level training."

Opportunity back home

While the employee is on-site he manages to run an efficient and profitable business. But what is the path of growth once he returns to India?

For those into language translation, the growth path will be of product development, followed by implementation and then that of handling high-end transactions such as pitching for clients, says Banerjee of iFlex. Familiarity with a foreign language can help one move from consumer support to enterprise support, thereby getting an opportunity to handle complex technical support. Prameela of Zensar outlines a clear growth path. "Such employees can grow vertically within the customer accounts into leadership and management roles such as program managers and account sales managers or can move laterally into other customer accounts in the same geography," she says.

So if you have a knack for learning different languages, make no bones about flaunting it!

Learn your language

Who enrols for such training?

Generally those with sound technical skills as well as reasonable networking skills are chosen for overseas business, besides looking at one's adaptability in a foreign land.

For on-site implementation, a mix of freshers and those with over 3-5 years of experience with the company is chosen.

For setting up operations and scouting for clients, even vice-presidents of companies enrol for such training.

What is taught in these sessions?

As on-site projects extend from six months to a year, one cannot survive on mere theoretical language skills. Basic beginner-level language training (reading and speaking, including some frequently-used phrases), cultural sensitisation that includes etiquette and cultural insights and some geography is taught.

Employees are trained 1-2 months prior to their departure.

Depending on the duration of on-site work, the language-training course is scheduled after work hours and is generally over three months.

Are these courses certified?

Most courses are not certified. Companies also hire corporate trainers who provide customised training modules.

archana@thehindu.co.in

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