A Learning Experience

Six

months after hosting India’s first e-learning users’ meet in Mumbai and

Bangalore, Rahul Thapan and his team are taking the show to New Delhi (and

re-visiting Bangalore). Thapan spoke to Dataquest about issues related to

e-learning and how the meet has brought about a change in perception

Why has e-learning not taken off in India?



E-learning as a concept is still growing in India. MNCs in India have

started implementing e-learning and so have bigger IT companies like TCS, Wipro

and Infosys who are already our customers. However, e-learning will take off

once private and public sector companies and government departments start

deploying it.

Did you find any difference in perception at the two meets you have had so

far?



We initiated e-learning user meets in the country with the objective of

creating awareness amongst prospective users about the concept of e-learning and

the benefits that could be drawn from it. Six months down the line, our second

user meet in New Delhi and Bangalore was more focused on RoI and effectiveness

of e-learning implementation. Today, I can proudly say that the companies are

not only more aware of e-learning solutions, they also understand that a

definite cost benefit can be derived by training the ‘e’ way. This time,

more participants wanted to know how to deploy e-learning within their

organizations, so that more and more people used it. This is large step forward.

Last time, we were just trying to educate them on the e-learning concept.

What have the contributions of the meets been?



After the first e-learning conference, it was pretty clear to us that

managers had no doubts about the advantages of deploying e-learning solutions.

What they were looking for was a tool to sell the idea to their top management

team. With the slowdown impacting IT budgets, most of them had indicated that

RoI of e-learning vis-à-vis classroom training could be that effective tool. We

found that a company can save nearly 33% of its training cost by using

e-learning tools. However, this can also go up to 50% depending on different

factors and how a company calculates its training costs. Now, they are concerned

about the effectiveness of training through e-learning.

How do you plan to take this marketing initiative further?



We have already planed a strategy aimed at answering users’ queries and

creating awareness about the usability of e-learning in corporate environment.

We plan to create a quarterly newsletter for participants.

IDC expects the APAC e-learning market to touch $235 million by 200. What

will India’s share in this space be during the same period?



We believe that India’s share will be limited to about 10-15% of the Asia

Pacific e-learning market. The maximum growth in e-learning is currently

happening in Australia. The balance is split among Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea,

China and India. Then there are smaller countries with a much smaller share of

the market. However, we aim to become the market leaders in the country with a

40% share of the pie.

While the RoI advantage offered by e-learning has been highlighted, how

effective is it compared to classroom learning?



There needs to be a check on the effectiveness of e-learning as well as

classroom training within corporate houses. Companies do not have defined

measures as training is not driven by the company’s objectives. Unless the

drive comes from the top, training cannot become effective and measurable.

SHUBHENDU PARTH in Bangalore