IT Education Sector Finally Comes of Age

The Indian IT education and training industry appears to be finally coming of
age. After the dizzying highs of the first 20 years and unforeseen lows of the
past two years, there appears a semblance of normalcy returning to this sector.
This is not only true for the country, but globally as well.

Rajendra S Pawar "A study of the hiring patterns of top software firms reveals that they are again opening their doors to fresh IT talent. That’s great news..."

Is such a correction unwelcome? In its magnitude, perhaps. But otherwise,
definitely not. Any industry, which sees a prolonged growth phase, particularly
at the scorching pace the IT industry had set for itself, is bound to witness
some degree of correction.

During this process, the industry was cleansed of a lot of fly-by-night
operators who were there to ride the crest of what was seen as a huge business
opportunity. The industry has weathered the storm and emerged stronger, leaner,
and more stable.

The fact that the shake out saw the exit of a number of dubious and
non-serious players and witnessed a strengthening of market share of some of the
leading players can only augur well for the market. And for consumers, who can
now put their trust and hard-earned monies with institutions who are serious
about offering the best possible value and the highest quality of education.

This is not only true for the student, but also for business associates and
partners who play a meaningful role in the development of such a services-led
business. Different players adopted different strategies to cope with the
slowdown, which was driven more by the sentiments rather than rationale. While
Aptech and SSI decided to merge their capacities, NIIT invested in product
development, creating a much finer segmentation of its products, and
customisation to suit newer market needs.

Newer training opportunities

Indian IT training majors have continued to reach out to global markets
having made strong inroads into West Asia, Latin America and Asia. China, with
its vast potential in the manpower development space, is emerging as a big
market for players like NIIT, who have gained a stronger foothold in the land of
the dragon over the last 5 years.

Besides new geographies, one also saw the emergence of newer training
opportunities, particularly in the IT Assisted Education space. The K-12
(schools) brigade, people looking for IT in careers, and those seeking
employment in the burgeoning IT Enabled Services sector came for specific,
specialised, niche training. Apart from long-term career programs, high-end,
modular software courses for enhancing skills of existing software professionals
and students also gained in popularity.

Not surprisingly, companies that innovated and upgraded their programs by
bringing in new technologies at new price points to meet the diverse and varying
needs of the audience, emerged as the ultimate winners.

ITeS–The new buzzword

The ITeS/BPO segment continued to create a significant manpower pull with
companies expanding their facilities, scaling up operations, adding seats and
capacity and recruiting personnel. If this emerging market’s hiring record is
anything to go by, the ITeS sector will create jobs for over 1.1 million people
by 2008 (as per Nasscom), as compared to 5 lakh jobs created by the IT industry
in the last 20 years, making it a 20-times bigger opportunity than the latter.

Interestingly, ITeS industry personnel need linguistic skills and appropriate
domain and functional expertise–skill sets that are completely different from
that required by the IT services segment and therefore requires a different kind
of training. Program offerings from Planetworkz and Hero Mindmine, specifically
designed and rolled out after extensive consultation and evaluation with the
ITeS industry leaders, are aimed towards fulfilling this requirement.
Furthermore, companies will have to create technology tools–like NIIT’s Time
Machine–to meet the huge demand that would be generated by this sector.

Catching ’em young

With IT being increasingly recognised as a compulsory skill to acquire–just
like English, Science and Maths–state governments, especially in the South,
have been taking the lead in making computer education available as part of
school curriculum. Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have already
implemented large projects in this area and the others are likely to follow suit
soon. Over 20 lakh school children are currently getting exposed to the computer
knowledge and this number is only going to increase with more States taking the
initiative toward bridging the digital divide.

The use of and exposure to technology as part of curriculum is gaining ground
in private schools as well, resulting in increased activity in the K-12 segment–growing
at a rapid pace in recent times.

Technology–The key delivery driver

As the Indian IT training companies aspire to spread their wings across the
globe, the use of technology in delivery of education becomes vital. Today, it
is a well recognized fact that Internet-based education is a cost effective and
efficient way of reaching out to learners across the globe, even those in remote
areas.

Companies that have incorporated e-learning within their educational
portfolio have access to the entire world as a potential marketplace. Yet, these
companies have to realize that the business requires long term, serious
investment and focus. Already severe pressures on bottom line of training
companies have led to a few sacrificing the online learning component in their
education strategies. The increasing usage of Internet has caused a paradigm
shift in the mode of training delivery. While traditionally, instructor-led
training has been the most popular format of learning, students are now looking
at supplementing their classroom education with on-line inputs.

Bridging the divide

Even during the first 20 years, when the IT education industry was coping
with sharp growth, it played a synergistic role with the formal education
system. While the formal sector helped in developing a good theoretical
foundation and knowledge base, the non-formal sector provided skills in
contemporary areas of technology. In the last two years, as the industry
matured, further synergies were built and companies like NIIT established a
stronger connect with the formal sector by forming relationships with
forward-looking institutions of the stature of Karnataka State Open University,
BR Ambedkar Open University, and ITT/Educational Services Inc, USA. For students
this meant that they now have access to a ‘single window education service
provider’ who offers hardcore IT skills along with value-adds like formal
qualifications.

IT jobs are back

One interesting pointer to the arrival of happy days for IT industry
aspirants was the QoQ growth in IT hiring by top IT employers. A study of the
hiring patterns of leading IT software leaders has revealed that these companies
are now opening their doors to fresh IT manpower. India’s premier software
exporters–Wipro, Infosys, Satyam, HCL Technologies, Digital, Polaris, Mastek
and NIIT–are estimated to have added 12305 people in the last 12 months,
upping their billable manpower numbers to 47,009 personnel in December 2002,
from 36,701 in December 2001.

The hiring outlook for the Indian software sector remains positive, with most
premier players looking to grow their manpower numbers. It won’t be long
before the software industry is back in action as the most preferred career
option. If that be the case, it gives the IT education and training industry
every reason to be optimistic. It is after all the demand that will drive the
supply of the IT professionals and, in turn, the growth of this sector.

Rajendra Pawar

The author is the Chairman of NIIT