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India seems the ideal, ‘untapped destination’ for Kronos at this juncture. The workforce management company is strengthening its research and development team here.
“Right now, India is the most popular destination for us with nearly 40 per cent of the jobs offshored headed here,” Mr Ashok Saxena, Head (Engineering centre) at Kronos India, told Business Line .
Excerpts from the interview:
Why did Kronos choose India for its R&D centre?
We focused on India because we realised that there is huge untapped potential to ramp up the level of domain expertise in the industry. Right now, nearly 40 per cent of the jobs offshored are to India. Scientific manpower capability and maturity is quite huge here. This wealth – abundant talent – is drawing organisations across the world to look to India for setting up an R&D centre here. Around two lakh engineering graduates join the workforce every year. Their language skills make it easy for them to integrate at a global level.
What is your current staff strength and hiring plans?
Currently, we have 3,500 employees worldwide and we’re actively growing at all locations.
How is Kronos India R&D Centre aligned with the parent organisation?
The India R&D centre was launched in October 2007. This is Kronos’ second biggest centre after North America and more popularly known as a GIC (Global In-house Centre).
The centre has been collaborating with the parent organisation in the US and other Kronos R&D centres across the globe. It is engaged in product innovation and caters to the global market requirement.
Some products that have been developed in collaboration with the global team include flagship products such as Kronos InTouch, Next Generation User Interface and Analytics. With thousands of installations in organisations of all sizes, we’re proving that workforce management doesn’t have to be so hard.
What is your perception on global in-house centres growth in India?
Companies are growing their geographic footprint to gain wider client base, source talent, reduce costs and improve efficiency of operations. In such a scenario, ‘Global Service Delivery’ is slowly becoming the de-facto operating model for organisations in various industries.
The GICs in India are growing at 18 per cent year-on-year and adding close to 4.5 lakh employees. A Nasscom survey revealed that the GICs revenue was close to $14 billion in the 2011-12 fiscal. Today, GICs are establishing a niche for themselves in mission-critical applications and processes where a company cannot risk involving a third-party.
It is a model which is not only sustainable but also evolving and emerging, establishing ‘proof of concept’ and branding India as a global sourcing destination.
Their impact extends beyond revenues and employment, spearheading initiatives to develop affordable products for emerging markets.
How do you visualise the future?
We need to realise the full potential of the GICs. They will probably consolidate and make tangible benefits beyond cost arbitrage; go beyond functional and technical expertise to understand the business/industry better.
The progression path would involve moving from a dependent to autonomy stage – first Operational and then Strategic.
As GICs mature, they become cost effective and more strategic to the parent organisation.
The centres are designed to help roll-out new services through effective project management.
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