The slowing growth rate in the Indian IT industry has had its share of impact on the capability of the current middle management layer in the industry. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw a heady 100% quarter-on-quarter growth for IT companies leading them to hire fresh engineers at the bottom of the pyramid in large numbers and putting them to short technical training programmes and early deployment in production roles. Now, 10–15 years later, that generation of the workforce is vying for middle management roles with very little opportunities owing to the slowing growth rate of the IT industry. Competition to get into that level in organizations is very intense with many aspirants chasing very few opportunities.
Rajul Garg, Director, Sunstone Business School, shares, “Gone are the years of regular promotions every other year and annual compensation hikes of 25% or more. More than ever, there is a need to skill this generation of Indian IT workforce with management fundamentals, while they still have an opportunity to apply those skills at work and deserve to move into the next level in management. However, most in house corporate training programmes have failed to get this exercise to scale to cover most of their employees.” The onus then shifts to the employee to invest into himself/herself to ensure the growth that they expect. There are several professional training schools that have dedicated themselves to this opportunity and provide a range of programmes ranging from a broad MBA programme to very specific programme focussing on creating a specific category of professionals, i.e. product managers or client engagement managers from the existing pool of technical talent.
The relevance of business knowledge in a technology professional’s career is manifold:
For professionals in the software products business, there is the issue of awareness of the needs of the target market, the need and importance of certain features over others, the way a feature needs to be implemented so that it is meaningful for a business user, etc. There is also a need to understand the economics behind the product being developed – how to position the product, how do you price, what channels do you use to provide access to the product, what about ongoing support, what features do customers value and hence what model of pricing may be relevant. Understanding of the economics of the product lifecycle management process – when does the customer derive the maximum value from the product, when does the provide incur the maximum cost, what is the cost of upgrade to a future version for the customer and what is the cost to the vendor of continuing to provide that support and many more…
For technology professionals that are helping clients in the implementation of packages like ERPs and other large systems, there is a definite need to understand not only product features from a business usage perspective but also understand the fundamentals of the business process that the feature is trying to support. Instead of just being a passive recipient of client needs, a good grasp of business fundamentals could allow these professionals to proactively suggest alternate methods that could help the client meet their business objective.
For client engagement managers, it is critical to understand the core business of the clients they support while not losing focus on the economics of their own business. A good knowledge of business fundamentals allow client managers to understand the business of their clients better leading to better quality conversations, more meaningful relationship and a long-term partnership.
A business education programme that aims to help mid-career professionals progress further must focus on the 5 Cs in the way they impart education.
1. Coverage
2. Contextualize
3. Collaborate
4. Complement
5. Coach
In the connected world, the content of business education has ceased to be a differentiator in the success of learning for the students. It is typically the “how they learn” that tends to decide success vs. “what they learn”.
