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It’s important for an enterprise
to train its employees on company policies and best
practices, as well as developing their knowledge and
IT skills
Regardless of the huge investment
that goes into IT infrastructure, at the end of the
day, an organization's most prized assets are its employees.
It's important for any enterprise to groom its employees
by training them on company policies and best practices,
as well as developing their knowledge and various skills.
Training on IT-related areas like security, disaster
recovery procedures, and Internet usage are equally
important.
More than half the respondents
acknowledge this, and overall 60 percent of the respondents
have invested in Training in the past. However, interest
in IT-related Training is on the wane. Last year, 40
percent invested in Training and in the next one year
a little over one-third (35 percent) plan to invest
in this area.
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Investment in IT Training has
decreased this year in almost all sectors. To gain the
maximum out of their IT implementation, or to popularize
initiatives like enterprise-wide automation or security,
companies need to indulge in training.
The two sectors that will spend
the most on Training during 2003-2004 are Manufacturing/
Engineering (49 percent) and FMCG/Consumer durables
(41 percent).
Sourcing
the training budget
There is always a debate on whether IT-related training
is a function of HR or the IS department. While the
IS department is invol-ved in framing policies and guidelines
for usage of IT infrastructure, it's up to functional
heads to enforce it. And that leads to the question,
where does the Training budget come from?
In any organization, Training
is a function of the HR department. This implies that
the Training budget is a subset of the HR budget. But
55 percent said the IT Training budget is a part of
the IT budget. Since the IT budget is already constrained,
it explains why the Training budget is shrinking. 46
percent also said the Training budget comes from the
HR budget.
Healthcare, Chemical &
Pharmaceutical, and FMCG companies are mostly clear
that training in IT is to be spent from the IT budget.
And most Telecom/IT/ ITES companies feel it's to be
spent from the HR budget.
How
frequent is the training?
IT infrastructure is upgraded or extended on a regular
basis. And, employees need to be updated on these changes
immediately. In some cases this training occurs round
the year.
29 percent said training occurs
only after project implementation, while 67 percent
said they conduct training throughout the year.
The Auto/Auto components and
Telecom/IT/ITES sectors conduct training throughout
the year. While many companies in Services conduct training
after project implementation.
Who
conducts the training?
The other question that comes up is, should the training
be outsourced or conducted in-house?
For those that have a separate
IS department or have strong IT skill sets, it's better
to conduct the training in-house. Otherwise one should
outsource the training.
74 percent conduct in-house
training while 68 percent outsource training to an external
agency or the systems integrator.
- 40 percent of the surveyed companies have
invested in training last year, while 35 percent
plan to do so this year.
- In 55 percent companies, the IT training
budget is a part of the IT budget and not the
HR budget.
- More than two-third of the companies conduct
training sessions throughout the year.
- 74 percent of the companies rely on in-house
training, while 68 percent use external sources
for training.
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- In-house personnel should do process-centric
training. And external specialists should impart
training in generic areas like ISO/SEI-CMM certifications
and stress management.
- Training is traditionally an HRD-driven activity.
So expenses for training should be a part of
the HR budget. The IT Head should be involved
in setting guidelines and specifications.
- Training sessions should be held more frequently.
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Companies are not very receptive when it comes
to spending on IT training—unless they are
from the IT sector. There are a number of reasons
for this.
Money for IT-related training comes from the
IT budget. And with squeezed IT budgets, training
is the first area that is likely to be axed.
The staff is getting more IT-savvy. In the early
days of computerization, a non-IT staff would
have trouble using a command line interface. Now
you can expect an average worker, who's been newly
inducted, to know how to use a simple text editor,
spreadsheet, and even e-mail. This is a far cry
from the earlier scenario, when employees struggled
even to use a mouse.
Most applications now have rich GUI-based interfaces,
which have friendly help menus and drop-down boxes
with custom responses.
What enterprises need to focus on is specialized
training for initiatives like enterprise-wide
automation, and security where there is a change
in business processes due to technology implementation.
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