Mr. Anupam Pahuja, MD, SumTotal solutions, India

The impact of the global economic climate has had its influence on human resource (HR) practices and policies in India. One positive outcome has been the growing focus on talent development. SumTotal Systems, Inc. is one of the leading providers of proven talent development solutions that automate and integrate learning, performance, and compensation to drive business results on a daily basis. The solutions provided by SumTotal strengthen and develop employee skills to accelerate time-to-market, close skill gaps, and reduce the risk of business disruptions. The company was formed in March 2004 by the merger of industry pioneers Docent and Click2learn. Convergence Plus spoke with Mr. Anupam Pahuja, MD, SumTotal solutions, India regarding the current state of the HR Space in India.

CP: In what way has the global economic climate affected HR policies in India?

AP: The Global economic climate has affected HR policies in India both in a negative and a positive way. The positive aspect is the fact that training and employee development continued despite the downturn. The downturn cannot stay on forever. Organizations need to understand external market uncertainty and internally manage their anxious and distracted talent pool, which many companies failed to do, resulting in high attrition rates. Senior Management poaching reached up to 80%.

Indian companies had a chance to use this time to focus on innovation and developing new skills in their workforce. Trainings on re-skilling, technology, and new tools are the need of the hour. Innovate in a smart way around the core business competencies to ensure the best returns in the future. Right training aids organizations to trend-up even in the economic downturn. Learning is an on-going process. Continuous learning is provided through training which is critical to impart skills, attitude and knowledge. This helps us to sustain, remain customer-centric and be profitable even in a slow-down. The present downturn in the global economy has created the best opportunity for Indian companies to become big global players.

CP: What are the important trends being noticed in the Indian HR space especially in terms of rising attrition rates?

AP: The important trends being noticed in the Indian HR space especially in terms of rising attrition rates was the desperate need from company’s side to hold onto their current employee portfolio, especially the experienced and productive bunch. Tatas just announced Succession planning across all levels in their firms. The recession drew upon an important learning that your employees are your best assets. To maximize returns one needs to invest in most valuable assets. Employees need to be made to feel special and a part and parcel of the decision making process in the company. Employees also tend to look out when they see no growth options within the company itself, which is, precisely the reason why more and more companies are devising innovative strategies of employee retention by taking them to offsites, rescaling, appreciating their efforts, etc in order to retain them. This clearly shows that when it comes to employee promotion, companies tend to look within and that is how it should be.

CP: What HR solutions are being provided in the Indian market by Sum Total?

AP: SumTotal caters to the Indian market by providing a host of HR solutions. We have an entire Talent Development suite which helps companies take snapshots of their talent and figure out gaps in training or alignment with goals and then take quick corrective measures. By using our suite, employees do not have to wait until an appraisal process to find out about their gaps in performance and skill sets. In a recessionary economy, a lot of importance is given to performance improvement (how to get more from the same employees by improving efficiency) and on minimizing costs. By using online learning tools available in our suite, companies can effectively cut down on travel and vendor costs by creating their own online trainings and making them available in office that are across geographies. This content can be used umpteenth number of times and for unlimited number of employees.

CP: What impact do HR softwares have on an organization's costs?

AP: SumTotal’s software systems make the employee of an organization better by integrating and automating a company’s learning, performance, and compensation management which drives business results on a daily basis. By delivering better business results, in the very first year of operations itself it provides a very high return on investment and pays for itself many fold.

CP: Do these softwares need to be managed specifically by HR managers or can they be operated by someone without an HR background? Also, how easy are these softwares to operate and implement across industry sectors?

AP: Sumtotal’s software is designed and developed for the organization as a whole. Employees at all levels interact with the software, therefore making it self-managed. The administration of the software is done by somebody who should have the basic knowledge of HR and relative techniques involved. We at SumTotal offer customized solutions tailor made to fit the needs of the organization from SMB to very large enterprises the solutions are customized to fit the need of the company. Sumtotal offers worldwide 24X5 customer care toll free helpline to support and resolve queries in time.

CP: Which sectors are Sum Total HR solutions being deployed in? Which industry sectors are the most important for your company and why?

AP: SumTotal HR solutions are being deployed in various sectors of the Indian market. More and more companies ranging from large enterprises to SMBs are realizing the importance of effectively engaging and managing their talent. They are now looking at solutions that will help them plug gaps in skills and competencies with learning that leads to tangible results. Companies want Learning and Performance to be very closely aligned because they understand that one cannot have performance management without the learning that accompanies it. Companies want to provide all necessary resources to their employees so that they are able to minimize their own skill gaps and improve their own performance. Technological trends like preference towards SaaS, mobile learning, etc also show up on company’s wish lists which make even more sense in Indian perspective. With over 18 million users, 1500 clients, 50% of the fortune 100 companies as clients, every single sector benefits from Sumtotal’s solutions.

CP: What are your plans for expanding your presence in the Indian market?

AP: SumTotal has plans to expand in the Indian market. India as a market is growing by leaps and bounds. While in developing countries like India, it will be a good model to adopt SAAS solutions with low cost of ownership and high return of investments. As the organizations in the developing countries have less mature system, it makes more sense for them to buy subscription of these applications versus upfront paying huge license cost of the software, servers, databases, hardware, etc and have a dedicated team to manage the system. Such kind of offerings will reduce the risk and increase adoptability of these applications. So, we plan to leverage on this same fact and build a workable relationship with the SMBs, the backbone of Indian IT, driving home the point that it is through SAAS offering from SumTotal that they can save money and increase efficiency rather than going for licensed options or manual HR practices.