"The single largest factor that contributes to our success is people. And then it is natural that what we are relying on the most can become the biggest risk parameter for business if we fail to retain it," he elaborates.
Arguably, for the leading IT services companies, 'talent pool' has become the biggest challenge today.
Significance of expertise
Customers today, says Hemani, expect nothing less than a hundred per cent business continuity. "It is the complete end-user experience which is gaining prominence in the market today."
He cites an example of a bank's ATM. When an ATM is down, there may be a problem with the ATM, or the machine's link with the data center, or the application server, or the storage server, or the core application, or the authentication software, or anything for that matter. But an end-customer or the bank's retail account manager is least bothered to know these details. Everyone just wants the entire system to get back on track, fast. To ensure that all such business-lifeline systems continue to run uninterrupted, the technology services vendors must possess both, technology expertise as well as domain knowledge, mentions Hemani.
"This simply means, we must have people with diversified domain expertise. They must have technology know-how as well as insight into various processes and practices prevalent in target industries," he says.
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Fact file
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Company name: Omnitech Infosolutions FY2008 revenue: Locations: Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, India, Japan, UK, and USA Specialization: Application management, application maintenance, application testing services, business availability services, disaster recovery, infrastructure management servicees, infrastructure virtualization, server and storage consolidation, system integration No of employees: 725 Contact: Omnitech House, A-13, Kondivita Rd, MIDC, Andheri (E), Mumbai-93; Tel: +91-22-40956666 |
The focus on education
Omnitech approaches the people puzzle in multiple ways. Starting with basic campus recruitments and head hunting exercises a few years ago, the company has now started collaborating with several technology institutes and business schools to update their curricula including new courses.
"There are three types of courses that we help them run. This includes technology courses, soft skills, and domain skills," Hemani informs. Omnitech also sends its experienced staffers as faculty members in these institutions to take classes. The company, through such engagement with institutions helps build a talent pool that may prove useful for its own competitive advantage in future.
To ensure that its employees have dual-level of expertise, i.e. technology and domain expertise, it has set up four independent business practices. They are banking and financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing, and ITeS. "We have structured courses running in these domains," he informs. Every new recruit is given exposure to specific domains in addition to technology and soft skill training.
Retention planning
"The biggest reason why employees leave their jobs is the boss. Somewhere down the line, the boss is not able to show the subordinates that they are important to the organization," observes Hemani.
In a technology driven business, he says, this becomes more of an issue where the people's expectation levels are high. The employees expect recognition of their efforts. They also want a well-defined growth path for their careers with a sufficient dose of exposure to new technologies. Being in IT services, 72 per cent of Omnitech's total manpower consists of technology professionals.
Omninitech's HRD and the Training and Development Department, therefore ensure that employees are given exposure to relevant technologies based on their experience levels, qualifications, and aptitudes. Due to its global foot-print, it is also able to offer them an exposure to overseas deployments.
And finally, as the next step of its HR practice, Omnitech is looking at introducing employee stock option plan rewarding the best and consistent performers.
- Nagesh M Joshi