case study
Gearing for an Economic Boom in the North East The North-East India, of late, is being seen as a fertile recruitment ground for IT and BPO service providers. The government and private players are using this opportunity to provide relevant skills training to the population. Public – Private Partnerships are crucial to these developments, with companies willing to invest in training requirements By Sheena Joseph
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he Government of Megahalya signed a MoU with Symantec, a foreign franchise, to develop and implement IT skills development and IT educational programmes in the state. The MoU is aimed at enhancing the skill requirements of IT graduates, besides maintaining a database of certified participants, that can feed into employment initiatives. The focus is to take a holistic skill development approach, understand industry requirements and create specific development initiatives. The training programme is being offered by the state government free of cost. The state government has been encouraging and attempting to approach IT and ITES companies to invest in the state, with the objectives of creating IT employment, improving IT infrastructure
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and using IT as a catalyst to fuel economy in other industries. The state government has also asked the company to conduct job fairs in Shillong so that students can be provided placements in top firms after the completion of the programme. Around 2000 students will be benefited in the first phase of the programme. According to the agreement Symantec is responsible for implementing education services in the State thereby running a training program to train about 2000 candidates in its first phase. This will help in creating employment opportunities for candidates both inside and outside the state. Symantec has partnered with ETPL (India) to compile sample profiles of graduates from different disciplines and establish skill
requirement to develop IT orientation. Dale Smith, Senior Director of Education Services, APJ, Symantec elaborates on the details of the program. According to her, Symantec’s program imbibes good quality orientation, superior process delivery and a keen emphasis on information availability and security on every trained student for higher job achievement. Also, by providing trained professionals to the industry the state will be able to give significant and sustained cost advantage, attributed to the wide differential in wage-costs and productivity gains achieved by firms in sourcing from Meghalaya. Another firm to have taken this attempt forward is Genpact, one of the country’s top BPO employers. Tata Consultancy Services and 24/7 Cus-
Donald P Wahlang Commissioner & Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, IT and Sports
Could you elaborate on the present situation of skill development initiatives in Meghalaya? Symantec and NIIT have been responsible for the skill development of the students in Meghalaya. Symantec has trained around 1941 student in various IT security related courses whereas NIIT was instrumental in training students in various courses like IT Fundamentals and Tally, Diploma in Financial Accounting, Diploma in Information Technology, and Networking. The courses offered by Symantec are almost in the final stages whereas the courses offered by NIIT are still going on. In addition, IT Department, GoM also supported DOEACC Society for conducting IT skill development
Government of Meghalaya
What have been the challenges in the process of implementing the skill development initiatives in the state? The challenges in implementing the Meghalaya recently signed a MoU skill development initiative in the state with Symantec for skills development have included hurdles like the mismatch in the state. Could you give us details between the course content and student about the programme? expectations. Also, since the courses ofIt is a fact that the Government of Megha- fered are free of cost, the youth often do laya had signed an MoU with Symantec, not take it seriously. Post training placefor IT skill development programmes in ment avenues have been a challenge too. the state. As a matter of fact, the tie up also includes advisory services and resi- What are the emerging areas in IT dency programme for the first year. So that you foresee for the state? far, Symantec has conducted the trainEmerging areas in IT that have the poing programme and provided training for tential to flourish include BPOs and Soft1941 students. Besides, 531 students ware Services. BPOs can very well utilise have been certified so far. the availability of manpower which is flu-
tomer have also joined the bandwagon. Low attrition rate, good knowledge of the English language and a sense of loyalty are the qualities that are being touted as the key factors in promoting this trend. The north-east India is being seen as a fertile recruitment ground for IT and BPO service providers. The hiring trend among BPO’s are reflective of this development. Firms like 24/7 Customer has hired about 150 people from north-east and east India in the last few years, while Maveric Systems, an independent testing organisation, has hired 24 students from four engineering colleges and one university there. In order to improve the technical skills the employees, companies are also willing to invest in training requirements of the new recruits. ‘24/7 Varsity’ programme was launched in Guwahati by 24/7 Customer to educate lecturers in universities in skills required for the BPO
Dale Smith Senior Director of Education Services, APJ, Symantec
ent in English, while the software services can make use of the eligible resources. What is the importance accorded to PPP models? Public Private Partnerships are of crucial importance in skills development initiatives. NIIT and Symantec are important collaborations for skill development. BASIX has been appointed on a PPP mode to run CSCs in Meghalaya. Other projects, apart from IT related projects, have also been initiated on a PPP / BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer) model in the state. Recently, several companies have evinced interest in setting up their businesses in Meghalaya. Your comments. With several e-Governance project initiatives on the forefront, companies are looking at investing in Meghalaya. There are several reasons for this trend. The state government has been encouraging and supporting numerous developmental projects. Also, peaceful environment has prevailed in the state during the last 10 years. Low-cost production inputs for the companies due to easily available workforce has also been a reason for the trend. Besides, these companies can easily tap the knowledge, technological aptitude, and ingenuity of this available workforce. Additionally, the state has a strategic location and easy access to other neighboring states.
“Through the successful continuation of Symantec’s training program, the government will be able to offer sustained cost competitiveness to attract IT companies to the state. This course will help develop a better understanding of IT skill requirement in the industry”
industry. Significant investments are expected with the entry of IT and BPO firms, which will automatically result in the overall development of the region. The latest phenomenon is of crucial importance even for the IT and the BPO
industry in the context of the industry facing a severe shortage of manpower. Currently, the industry employs 1.6 million people. Despite this, supply of quality manpower has for long been a nemesis for the industry. \\
digital LEARNING
OCTOBER 2010
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