What's the Gap?

In my several years of professional experience in IT & ITES industry, I have always noticed that training and therefore, improving one’s skill-set for a better evolved technical resource or a manager has been looked upon as a Cost, rather than an Investment.

If we take Human Capital to be the most important asset an organization can have, how is it that improving their competency and upgrading them with new skills be an item on the expenses side of the P/L Account? Should we not put it under “Assets / Investments” in the Balance Sheet?

Time has now come to go beyond this myopia and look at the bigger picture.

Let's take a step backward and look at Technology Training for IT industries.

Despite the proliferation of Training Institutes and an obvious demand for their services, one sees several causes for concern. A look shows up several gaps in the skills and training scenario - in skill sets and in the way training is handled. I could list several, but here are the most pertinent ones:

1. There is a gap in the difference betwen the skill sets young graduates from a majority of Educational Institutions come out with into the job market, and the skills they need now to join a company's workforce and be productive as soon as possible. This is so often the case except, may be, for graduates from a few premium institituions or with outstanding students.

2. There is always a gap in the difference between the job skills IT professionals actually have at this moment, and the skills they need now and in the near future to keep the company competitive in its marketplace.

This is unavoidable, given the speed with which technology evolves and the pressure companies and techies are under to keep themselves up-to-date with new technology. Or, it can come from the need to support a legacy technology for which skill sets are no longer easily available.

The answer lies in training the workforce suitably. The concern lies not in training being not made available, but rather in how it is planned and executed.

3. And most importantly, there always lies a gap in the way training needs in an organization is handled and the way it should be handled for the best results. This is the direct result of Corporate myopia I was mentioning earlier.

Mr. Narayan Murthy had once made a comment that 70% of Engineering graduates are practically unemployable, often not through any fault of theirs.

Infosys has, thus, set up their finishing schools where they take young gradutes, train them on different technologies for 6 months and bring them up to speed.

Infosys has done this, because they always have had the realisation that training is not a cost factor to projects, but a vital part of corporate strategy.

Looking at the majority of IT companies, one does not see this enlightened self-interest at play in the way they regard or approach training.

The problem lies within ... in our mindsets most of all. Let us examine each problem area in more detail in the coming days.

Let's not forget that though India is still a preferred destination for affordable and quality IT solutions, there are numerous other smaller countries (and also a big country like China) who are almost getting ready to take us head-on in this extremely competitive and skill based industry. Are we ready to meet these challenges and remain numero uno in the field?

May be the top 5 IT companies will survive, but it’s the small & mid sized companies who will be hit hard, if they don’t pull up their socks and be ready to change the game.