Young and Restless India » Career

Young Indians Are Reshaping Corporate Information Technologies

Raj — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:22:10 +0000

Accenture survey finds that companies and organizations in China and India stand to capture a global competitive advantage on the strength of young workers and students, who are the world’s most intensive users of corporate information technology.

The research, based on a survey of more than 5,000 students and young workers in 13 countries around the world, found that the technology practices of new hires and students from the “Millennial” generation in China and India– those between the ages of 14 and 27 — have leapfrogged their counterparts elsewhere in the world, especially in much of Western Europe, where many Millennials feel that technology consumes too much time.

Millennials in the Americas (Brazil, Canada, and the United States) and Asia-Pacific (Japan and Australia), meanwhile, have positive perceptions of technology, but not at the same level as young people in China and India. When it comes to adopting new technologies, the survey found that borders don’t matter. Regardless of country, Millennials are clearly jumping the boundaries of corporate IT. They expect to use their own technology and devices rather than those supplied by their employers, according to the research. Even e-mail usage is changing.

Rural BPO

Raj — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:41:47 +0000

India’s BPO industry is already worth $12bn but rural BPOs are part of a fresh push by Indian entrepreneurs to keep the industry competitive according to BBC article titled “Business ventures thrive in rural India “.

Rural BPOs are aimed at providing cost-effective solutions to foreign companies that want to outsource their work. Where Indian and foreign companies might have looked to other countries for competitive deals, rural BPOs ensure business stays in India according to the article. In 2008 Murali Vullaganti founded RuralShores with business partners including Chennai-based entrepreneur R Sujhata, who was the architect of the rural BPO model in Puttaparthi in Tamil Nadu state. It got a shot in the arm after one of India’s leading banks, HDFC, bought a substantial stake in the company. Mr Vullaganti says his company could offer savings of up to one-third on city BPO centres.

The success of the rual BPO model is attracting city BPO workers with roots in villages. But with all its cost effectiveness and cutting edge advantage, rural BPO centres do not offer voice services. They focus on processing the documents of insurance companies and banks and handle the email queries generated on these companies’ websites. Nevertheless, the rural BPO is an ambitious project. Mr Vullaganti said his company planned to set up 500 centres all over the country in the next five to six years.

Gen-YRI aspires to be a global citizen

Raj — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:06:05 +0000

Study overseas, acquiring new skills, and travel can be classified as ‘Indian Dream’ for the new breed of urban Indian students in a study done by TCS. You can read more about the study in the article titled “For Gen Next, it’s study overseas, skills and travel”.

Nearly one out of 10 people on the planet are under 25 years old and living in India. Hence, what this Gen-YRI does, thinks and aspires for, gives insights to all those who aim to engage them. With that in mind, TCS has conducted survey dubbed generation Web 2.0 survey reached out to 14,000 high school students in 12 cities to capture the pulse of the Indian youth with a focus on career ambitions and technology habits.

The findings by TCS survey is categorized into four buckets (read about it here)

The Globetrotter: Today’s students continue to express a strong desire to be mobile like previous generations. This generation has global ambitions and wants to study and work abroad. However, a growing confidence in the economic future in India is also reflected in the survey as many students want bring skills back to India and put them to use in India.
The Gadgetphile: Students from both metros and mini-metros who love gadgets and aspire to have the latest products available.
The Nation-Builder: Along with the career the younger Indians want to travel, learn new skills, experience interesting. They also want to branch out of the traditional career choices and going for some new options like gaming and animation. They prefer to work for Indian companies compared international MNCs.
The Social networker: Gen-YRI is getting to be a consummate Social Networker and is likely to have as many online friends as real ones. Interesting this is that these friendships go beyond the traditional boundaries of gender, caste, and geographies. The Youth is willing to communicate with anyone and everyone as long as they have the same interests.

Mass English Education in India

Raj — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:12:39 +0000

English is the lingua-franca for globalization. If India has to clock 9% annual growth in its GDP, English needs to be central in education of Gen YRI. There will be an increasing demand for multi-lingual speakers by corporate India according to Times of India article “English for Progress”. Therefore the articles notes that instead of focussing on English-medium schools, the emphasis should be on the quality of English teaching in vernacular-medium schools.

The British Council has launched ‘Project English’ in India and the goal is to have every teacher and learner of English in the world will have access to English skill by 2010. British Council has been working with the state governments to design and run large scale teacher training and curriculum development projects that are helping to improve English language teaching in state schools. They have also been working with large corporate sector employers to improve language assessment and training systems.

In the past only a certain segment had a strong command over English in India, but initiatives such as Project English would help to widen that segment. This would give Young India a global edge.

New Breed of Young Indian Entrepreneurs?

Raj — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:37:31 +0000

Business Standard article titled “Young India Does its Bit for Online Biz Model” reports that several members of Gen YRI are starting new online Internet companies. This looks like an Indian version of ‘dot com boom’. The article notes that, Juxt Consult report says that, four out of every five internet users in India are in the age group of 19-35 years. And, given the fact that India has 50 million internet users, the population of young surfers is 40 million. Factors like rising wealth and rising number of youth entering work force will only increase the number of Internet users. With meteoric rise of of mobile computing and development of new categories of computers like Netbooks and MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices), the number of potential customers in India will continue to rise. Thus, Online Business Model is a viable way to tap that growing market of savvy users. With a low startup cost, young entrepreneurs can implement their innovative ideas.

The article also notes that starting a business is still a risky proposition and hard for people to leave the security of a regular job and venture into something new and uncertain. These young entrepreneurs still have to overcome people’s skepticism of Start up. Still, the rewards are great and that’s what these new breed of young Indian entrepreneurs are focused on.