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Cut down your training costs Business India - March 4, 2002

E-learning is a form of instructional authoring that can be delivered through a CD-ROM, over a LAN or on the Internet. The process includes computer-based training (CBT), electronic performance support systems (EPSS), and Web-based training (WBT), as well as distance learning. E-learning provides the student or learner with information that can be accessed in a setting free from time and place constraints. The material is media-rich information, including such multimedia forms as audio and video. The progress and achievement of the student can be assessed in e-learning with custom feedback and evaluation available in an interactive environment.

Nirmal Jain, managing director of Tata Infotech Limited, says: "E-learning is primarily cost-saving. As the number of people being trained increases, it becomes more cost-effective to develop e-learning material than to send people to classrooms. It also saves time, is practical, consistent, and standardised, and can deliver better results than reading a manual as CBT attracts those students’ interest who do not have the motivation or skill to sit down teach themselves by reading a manual or self-study guide. Manuals are usually more effective for reference than for learning.

With the increasing demand for IT professionals in the Asia-Pacific IT industry, the requirements to train these professionals is also growing. "The management of worker attrition will become the most important strategic area of competition in the IT industry in years to come," says Sujoy Sen, senior analyst with IDC’s Asia-Pacific services research. The recognition of knowledge and skill as a critical resource in the global economy, along with rapidly changing technology and small labour pools, has led to an increasing focus on continuous learning.

Currently India represents 21 per cent or $216 million of the total spending on IT training in the region and is expected to be the leading contributor throughout the forecast period, reaching revenues of $695 million by 2004. This is because, driven by a worldwide demand for software development exports, India currently accounts for 60 per cent of the total Asia-Pacific demand for IT professionals. There will be a significant shift in training channels during this period. Currently, instructor-led training (ILT) accounts for 87 per cent of the total delivery media in the region. By 2004 IDC expects this to have dropped to only 74 per cent as ILT is challenged by e-learning and CD-ROMS as alternative media.

Rahul Thapan, head of the education services division of Tata Infotech, says: "The use of the Internet as a delivery method is gaining prominence. E-learning will grow at 94 per cent compounded annually between 1999 and 2004 to reach $235 million." Glenn Nott, Asia-Pacific vice-president of SmartForce, says: "This growth will be largely driven by Australia, which will account for almost half of the e-learning market in Asia-Pacific at the end of this period."

Leading companies such as TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Compaq, i-flex, Kotak Mahindra, L&T Infotech, and Wockhardt have already started using e-learning software to excel in their own individual industry verticals.