The State of Sourcing

In the recent months, we have been studying the effect of the digital market on the publishing industry. Across segments and geographies, publishers are experiencing challenges centered on costs, resources and technology that have made it necessary for them to re-invent their business models.

Of the 200+ publishing professionals we interviewed, we found that close to 4 in 5 publishers are either outsourcing or considering outsourcing publishing services. So, if the whole industry is pretty much outsourcing technology, back office processes and industry specific publishing services, why is it still taboo? Perhaps some context would help.

Continue reading ‘Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?’ »

The Indian higher education sector is in the midst of tremendous growth and change. The population demographic has created an unprecedented number of young people in this country. The scale of the problem that India faces in terms of educating and providing employment to her vast youth population, is unique. The sheer size of the problem has made education a subject of national debate, with the attendant glare of the media and public opinion. In the past year, giving further impetus to the debate is the political push by the Human Resource Development (HRD) minister, Mr. Kapil Sibal and his views on the need for reform in the Indian education system.

There exist great opportunities for the private sector to play a dominant role in the near future. With an eye on the future, a few weeks ago TiE (the entrepreneur network) set about hosting a seminar on private participation in Indian higher education. I was invited to represent ValueNotes, and moderate a most stimulating panel discussion, joined by the likes of Mr.Siva Ram Mallela (Founder of Knowledge Partners, Former Dean of New Initiatives at ICFAI University) and Mr.Chenraj Jain (Founder, Jain University). I’d like to share some of my thoughts on the subject,  enriched from the event!

Continue reading ‘TiEing up Indian Higher Education’ »

India Chapter of New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) is organizing a conference on “Building Bridges between the United States and India” from 25-27 Mar 2010 at Mumbai.

The conference will focus on contemporary corporate and legal themes. Speakers include Stephen P. Younger (Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, NYC), James P Duffy III (Past Chair, NYSBA, NYC), Michael W. Galligan (Immediate Past Chair, NYSBA, NYC), Steven C. Krane (Chair, NYSBA, NYC), Som Mandal (FoxMandal Little, New Delhi), Cyril Shroff (Amarchand Mangaldas Suresh A. Shroff & Co, Mumbai), Nishith Desai (Nishith Desai Associates, Mumbai) and Arun Jethmalani (CEO, ValueNotes) among others.

For more details about the event, please click here.

ValueNotes is pleased to announce the launch of its report titled ‘Examinations and the role of technology: Emerging Directions’, in collaboration with EDGE forum, supported by MeritTrac and Excelsoft. The report was released during the 3-day conference EDGE2010 in New Delhi last Thursday, and I’m extremely happy to say, it was received with much enthusiasm from the crowd. We attended the conference primarily to present the findings of our report, but also to participate in the many discussions and sessions held pertaining to the Indian higher education sector.

The event had a great turnout, from biggies such as Sam Pitroda and Kapil Sibal who inaugurated the conference, to eminent personalities from the field of higher education. Many vice chancellors, pro chancellors, directors, principals represented the academic side, as well as senior management from companies servicing the sector. There were also quite a few foreign university/exam board/accreditation agency representatives, who gave the event a truly global perspective.

Continue reading ‘Our experience at EDGE2010!’ »

This was the heated discussion that took much of the limelight, at the first ever ‘CLO Summit 09‘ held yesterday at the TISS Convention Center, Mumbai, India. The event saw the attendance of Learning and Development heads of many leading companies across the Indian corporate field (including Novartis, Pepsico, Oracle, L&T, IBM, NIIT, HPCL, ONGC, SBI Life Insurance, BPCL and Aditya Birla Group.), as also some domestic e-learning providers. The Chief Guest, Bhaskar Chatterjee (IAS, Secretary, Dept. of Heavy Ind. & Public Ent., Government of India) set the context for the event, by defining what it means to be a ‘CLO’ at an organisation, and the many roles and characteristics that the title assumes. Panel discussions and audience inputs throughout the rest of the Summit then debated these concepts.

LeapVault’s CEO, Kumaar Bagrodia gave his vision for learning in the future, encompassing the principles of change and innovation for competitive advantage. Panel discussions and presentations by eminent corporate representatives discussed topics such as the role of the CLO and L&D in organizations; learning in public sector and non corporate organizations, learning in multicultural environments and the role of Learning in R&D intensive organisations.

Continue reading ‘CLOs: To appoint or not to appoint?’ »

As you may be aware, following the release of the ValueNotes e-learning offshoring report, we held an executive briefing to discuss the key findings with members of the industry, and also to facilitate Indian e-learning buyer-vendor interactions. The result was phenomenal, as Deepali blogged about earlier.

What we didn’t expect was the great response to the ValueNotes industry presentation, an integral part of the event. Since we’re still getting requests, we thought we should share a few of the slides with interested parties in the Indian e-learning space. And what better place to do so than our blog!

Continue reading ‘e-learning outsourcing 2009: Advantage India’ »