The slowdown has been tough on IT training institutes in the country, given
that the number of students registering for new courses has fallen drastically.
This has forced these institutes to re-look at their existing business models
and come up with alternative ones in order to expand their market share.
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Training vendors are facing the crunch primarily due to the downturn in the
software services market and a subsequent decrease in hiring by software
companies.
The IT training market in India was affected by the negative sentiment among
students. Incidentally, the bulk of the training market comprises individuals
viz-a-viz corporates. Training majors are thus trying to innovate and tap newer
segments.
Innovate or perish
There has been an increase in courses aimed at teaching basics such as
Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Internet and e-mail, all of them aimed at
making students computer literate, as against the ‘job-oriented’ training
courses, which were being sold earlier and made merry for training companies.
Some institutes, meanwhile, have also included basic programming like C and C++
in their curriculum. Training majors like NIIT already have short-term courses
like SWIFT and other vendors are just beginning to follow suit.
A new addition is an innovative offering by the Software Technology Group (STG).
Called ‘Dial a Trainer’, this scheme involves taking IT education to the
doorstep of the consumer. The consumer in this case, would be a PC owning
household where some of the family members might not be able to access the
computer due to lack of training. This marks STG’s entry into the niche
segment, which would include housewives, senior citizens and school children.
Says Alka Kaul, STG’s associate vice-president (communications),
"Apart from first time computer users, we are targeting at the 40-plus
segment, which has not been exposed to computers". This would include
housewives, senior citizens, executives who do not use computers at work, small
businessmen and school children. Kaul adds that the scheme is aimed at making
STG a household brand. The scheme, priced below Rs 800, is targeting the
home-segment that makes up almost half of all PC sales in the country.
Institutional training: A new opportunity?
Chennai based SSI has begun to focus more on direct marketing and counseling.
According to an SSI spokesperson, "SSI’s marketing strategy relies less
on splashy advertising and more on counseling and direct marketing. We believe
students need to be reassured about the continued validity of IT as a career
option. In the absence of any dominant technology, students are enrolling for a
variety of skill enhancing courses. We see enrollments in Unix, C++, and Oracle.
There is also some interest in vertical specialization given the emerging
opportunities in fields like insurance."
While SSI continues to primarily target individuals through its training
centers, the company plans to tap the institutional education business segment,
thus broad basing its revenue stream. The new thrust involves targeting central
and state government initiated education-training programs. Another key area
explored by training centers involves large corporate houses. This segment is
quite lucrative, given the potential of training and re-skilling opportunities.
According to SSI chairman and CEO Kalpathi Suresh, "The institutional
business focus allows us to further strengthen and demonstrate our franchisee
interests. Since this part of the training business is not dependent on
individual responses or the job market, therefore will always be a steady and
growing revenue stream." Given that the IT training vendors are still
struggling to emerge from the doldrums, a focussed and innovative approach is
called for.
Amit Sarkar in New Delhi (with inputs
from G Shrikanth in Chennai)