The Hindu Business Line : Learning the webinar way

The whole world can learn for free. No mere rhetoric, but very much doable through webinars, feels P. Nagarajan, Founder and CEO of Softsmith Infotech, Chennai ( www.softsmith.com). “The webinar mode virtually makes us eGurus. We can teach from math to operating systems, from prayer-chanting to language-speaking,” he explains, during a recent lunch-hour interaction with eWorld.

At every level, there is an amount of learning required, reasons Nagarajan. “In the future we want to build a platform that connects voluntary teachers and students. We will moderate and provide virtual space for eLearning including voice, screen-sharing, text content and eLearning practical inputs.”

Our conversation continues over e-mail…

Excerpts:

What is the impact of the current slowdown on the verticals you operate in?

Softsmith operates in three domains: Software testing, training, and a product offering in governance and compliance.

Of these three, only the training market is witnessing sluggishness due to the current slowdown, as the recruitment process has slowed down. We do not see a slowdown in the testing domain, as our clients are primarily software product companies, who continue to grow.

Our own product is also doing well, as it is into the compliance and governance space, used in many sectors. Our dependence is minimal on the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector, which is witnessing the full impact of the current credit crisis.

We believe the trend of weak training demand will reverse in the next quarter, as we foresee that many employers will look for more recruits in early 2009.

Can you outline the trends in software testing and OPD (outsourced product development) in recent times?

Software testing has outgrown other segments of the software industry in the last about three years. More and more offshoring of testing happens nowadays, as India has gained more product and domain knowledge through its services.

OPD is aimed at long-term development or co-development of software products and it does not merely restrict itself to short-term customisation projects. It requires tremendous domain knowledge and the mindset of end customers.

There is an acute demand for good people in the testing and OPD areas now, as clients are increasingly gaining awareness about the benefits of outsourcing these activities. On the people side as well, many candidates are choosing testing as a career. This was not the case about three-four years ago.

You have launched webinars as a new vertical in Softsmith. What has been the trigger for the decision?

Affordable instructor-led training with practical aspects is grossly missing across India. We wanted to fill this gap. There are so many people who want to acquire conceptual as well as practical knowledge from experienced people, but they face quite a few challenges.

Finding a good training institution, getting the right time slot and increasing costs are the key challenges. To address all these issues, we came up with this idea: ‘Learn from where you are, for free, from experts!’

Let me make it clear: We are not doing this for charity! Audiences who are serious about learning are welcome. Many organisations provide some products free and get revenue from other areas. For us it is a brand and this also generates franchise for our testing and OPD business and for talent attraction!

Where is the demand for webinars coming from? What topics/themes lend themselves for treatment in this format?

Working people, jobseekers and students are all interested in this form of learning. They require a practical way of approaching the subject and that is what we offer. We cannot forget that the demand in training is based on demand in recruitment. So freshers and off-campus job seekers prefer this mode.

Working people want reskilling on complementary areas (for example, a Java programmer wants to learn about Oracle database); and they form a good share of our participants.

In a recent survey, we even found a good demand for learning Excel data operations. This has come from the clerical staff in various offices, who work more on data entry.

What are the key challenges in making webinars popular? What are the configuration requirements at the user end?

Making people aware of such an event is the key here. We send e-mail campaigns and search engine submissions. The audience need to be educated on how to participate in a webinar as well! If a person registers with a program, that is half win. If the person attends one webinar, that will make him/her come to the webinar again for other courses that are relevant.

All that the users need is a PC with at least 512 MB RAM, an Internet connection with 512 KBPS DSL, and a good speaker connected to the PC. Alternatively, they can participate in our webinars from any Internet browsing centre with these facilities.

How have developments in technology during recent times made it easier to deliver learning? Do you see a potential for revolutionising education in rural areas? Also, can these inputs be provided over the mobile?

The facility for screen-sharing simultaneously with voice is a great breakthrough. This will change the whole learning world. Companies are aware of these technologies. However, students are not aware.

The Internet bandwidth plays a major role in reaching rural areas. Also, for rural areas, we need to provide teaching in local languages. We have plans to launch the webinar programmes in Tamil and Hindi in the near future.

Irrespective of rural or urban areas, the users require Internet without interruption. This may be a practical issue in rural areas. We plan to have voluntary coordinators in the rural side to spread this model.

Mobile learning needs a serious thought and a better technology. Seeing a screen on the mobile is yet to make a mark and impact in India. Also, when we do technology-based programs, there are finer aspects in a screen that need attention from the audience. The resolution and size of the screen plays a major role. Mere voice over the phone may not help in this kind of learning.

dmurali@thehindu.co.in