Training on management basics for IT Professionals

The IT and ITES industry is in a transition phase, post the recent global meltdown. The
industry is in the initial phase of a major paradigm shift, in terms of the nature of services
that will be demanded and need to be provided, client expectations, employer
expectations from IT professionals, unraveling new business opportunities, and
transformation in business models. Leading IT service providers have been sensing this
impending transition, preparing for it and leading the shift, for some time, using the same
as a service offering differentiator for competitive advantage and higher consultant rates.
This reflected primarily as fixed price contracts, end to end service, IT / business
consulting as against supplying techies on a T&M model. What was a differentiator,
competitive advantage, premium service has now transformed into an imperative. The
transition in the offering has now matured into a compulsive requirement for survival.
The IT industry has now recognized this paradigm shift, accepted the major shake up in
store and the need for revisit to all aspects of the business.

One of the major areas for consideration is, the subject matter of the most important input
that drives the industry: the IT and ITES professionals’ competence, who have been
making the huge growth in the industry happen, for the last couple of decades. Major
companies have already recognized and are in a transformation mode in terms of the new
roles to be assumed and assigned, attributes of their key resource: the human assets to
effectively transform to the new business paradigm.

As the industry is transforming into its maturity phase since the last two decades, there
has been considerable learning on all aspects of the industry, particularly the business
model, delivery model, skill set classification / models, role definitions, role expectations,
transition from a purely technical role carrying out mundane activities to a techno
managerial role at all levels, sensitivity to client’s output and outcome needs, in terms of
the business expectation from the IT services provided as against measuring micro level /
task level achievement as metrics for performance assessment and remunerating.
A transformation in the division of labor, roles and responsibilities, recognized
competencies, expectations is on the cards. As against narrow areas of specialization that
prevailed in the early stages of the industry, transformation to a holistic / rounded role
and sensitivity to client business needs and being able to respond to these output and
outcome achievements, as against the earlier ways of measuring inputs and remunerating
for labor, is in vogue.

Though this expectation was brewing even during the early good times and used to be
communicated through client performance feedback, which most often reflected on our
IT specialists lacking domain / business knowledge and sensitivity to client expectations.

The IT specialist has now necessarily to become sensitive to the business needs of the
client for whom IT services is being provided for his survival and growth. He is expected
to be a solution provider. In the pre-crisis days, it was considered as an additional /
desirable qualification, but now it has become an essential requirement due to
competition as well as the emerging crisis.

Clients as well as service providers are now in a cost cutting and value generation mode
and both have recognized the urgent need to retrain / upgrade skills of pure techies to
sensitise and enable them to appreciate the clients’ business expectations from IT
services.

In this context, a team of management professionals who are primarily engineers and also
have worked in boundary functions, in interfacing with clients, who understand business
needs of clients, are offering training programs on management basics for fresh as well as
in service IT professionals, so that the IT professionals are able to deliver the clients’
stated and implied expectations and move up the value chain, be able to be on top of the
client in client interactions, and help resolve business issues through the IT services
provided, engage effectively with clients, convince clients on their additional value
generated, be able to see more value by client and thereby enhance fees for services
provided. Such trained IT professionals will seamlessly be able to transform to high end
IT / business consultants as against low end IT service providers, as in the erstwhile era.
Such a transformation will also enhance increased hourly billing / value for fixed price
services and thereby help the individual rise up the ladder, assume managerial roles much
faster and the organization valuing him. The paradigm shift also will transform the value
perception from a pure IT techie to that of an IT consultant /professional.

The training will be imparted on fundamentals of management, even for those who do not
have any formal management training, to equip them to be able to handle their roles
effectively and seamlessly.

We propose three tier training program (a) for freshers on basics (b) for middle level staff
with about 8 to 10 years exp on the managerial content needed at tactical level and (c) for
those in senior management at top level on strategic issues.

Training programs can be arranged for specific organizations as OBP (Exclusive

Organization based programs) for their professionals exclusively, at your premises, or for
a group of companies in a common convenient location at convenient timings or as public
programs needing registration for anyone qualifying and interested.

The duration proposed is: at junior levels of about 150 to 180 hours spread over 30-40
days, for middle level of 15 to 30 days duration of 75 to 150 hours, and for top level of
about 30 to 40 hours.

The content will be on the lines of top MBA programs and will have elements of class
room training on basic concepts, quizzes and exercises, project works, presentations,
team works, role plays, case studies. The requirements of the IT industry such as
marketing, proposal preparation, client management, negotiations, project monitoring and
management, financial aspects, Hr aspects, risk analysis, contracts, will be given due
weight age.
The faculty will be practicing Engineer- MBAs from IIMs with extensive managerial /
consulting / corporate training experience in the IT and non IT industry