Harbinger plans to double headcount to 200 this fiscal

Pune-based Harbinger Group is planning to double its headcount to 200 in this financial year on the back of a growing domestic enterprise e-learning market.

The company has also commenced work on the advanced version of its e-learning software, Elicitus Interactivity Builder 2.0.

"E-learning is growing fast in the country and corporates are investing time and money as they realise its value. Our clients are saving as much as 30 per cent of time using e-learning modules," said Vikas Joshi, chairman and managing director of the company.

The company will be adding more personnel primarily in the research and development (R&D) division. It will also be looking at increasing the number of subject experts, analysts, instructional designers, writers, artists and animators. This will help the company in rolling out new products on a faster pace, he said.

The increase in headcount is also under its initiative to create value through a combination of intellectual property (IP) creation and IP-driven services such as consulting and outsourcing. At present, IP-driven business is one of the major revenue streams of the company.

Harbinger, which recently launched its power builder version of Elicitus software, has also started development work on the next version of the suite. The advanced version of the software would be rolled out targeting pharmaceutical companies.

Elicitus is a globally benchmarked, award-winning rapid authoring tool. The company also designs and develops customised e-learning solutions and provides consulting to help clients select optimal packages of learning tools and products.

Its overseas clients are-Northwest Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Pepsico International, Tetratech EC and Globe Wireless, while closer home Satyam, AXA, e2e Serwizsol, Idea Cellular, Tata Quality Management Systems, Goodlass Nerolac and Zicom are among its clients.

The group had earlier made an investment of Rs 4.5 crore in its centre of excellence in Pune, which was to be raised to Rs 6.5 crore this year.

It also plans to grow its business in areas such as collaborative learning, content management and authoring, learning management and virtual classrooms.