Education offerings to power TCS iON's global expansion

TCS iON, the wing of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) offering cloud-based solutions, plans to expand its operations in Japan, Birtain and Ireland.

It says it would offer a new set of education solutions, which it hopes will help it outpace the consolidated growth rate of TCS. The information technology behemoth's arm has a revenue mix where the education vertical comprises 20 per cent of its revenue; the small and medium business (SMB) segment accounts for another 30 per cent. The rest is from operations in the 'high stake assessments' vertical -- this comprises competitive examinations such as the CAT and others.

"We are launching a set of products in the B2C (business to consumer) space in the education vertical. In the next five years, we believe, revenue contribution from this vertical to our top line can go up to 50 per cent," V Ramaswamy, global head at TCS iON, told Business Standard.

It has launched an education hub online in India, where students and others may purchase course material for examinations. It will be taking this platform abroad. The products on this hub include self-assessment tests, community participation, events, structural courses and others.

TCS iON says it has has identified four core segments for its products in education. The first being kindergarten to 12th standard, the second being higher education, the third job seekers and the fourth comprising those already employed but aspiring to raise their skills.

"What we have realised is digital alone will not meet the requirements for a country like India. So, we have taken physical assets, which are universities, and layer it with digital content, so that students don't take it digitally or physically alone," Ramaswamy told this publication.

The company had some stagnation from its SMB business vertical, which is recovering from the impact of demonetisation and the new goods and services tax's effects. Ramaswamy wouldn't give figures but states there had been a decline in contracts signed over the past three months in the SMB space.

He expects the number of clients in the SMB space to go up in the near future but TCS iON will not be targeting this in its international operations. "SMBs are one thing we are not expanding beyond India now, as the dimensions are very different; there are some enquiries in Japan but we'll take a call at a later point," he said.

After its launch in 2011, TCS iON's focus was on the wellness and retail segments. After a tepid response, it changed to target education and SMBs in the manufacturing sector.

With a global strategy and expansion of the education vertical in place, Ramaswamy says he's optimistic on growth in the business; he gave no figure. "We will definitely grow at a rate which is much higher than the larger TCS growth rate. That, for sure, will happen," he added.