Upgrading IT skills

SPOTLIGHT: Set up at a time when the IT industry was facing a crisis, Bangalore-based 24x7 Learning Solutions is now reaping the benefits of innovation

Five years ago, when two young IT professionals set up an e-learning solutions company, many of the companies engaged in providing online IT education were shutting shop.

However, the two men "� K S Karthik and Anil Chhikara "� took a risk and went on to establish 24x7 Learning Solutions with all their savings.

The company not only survived the 2001 IT crash but has today emerged as India's largest eLearning implementation company with learners dispersed in more than 25 countries in the world.

It is currently serving seven out of the top ten IT outsourcing companies and six out of the top ten BPO companies in the country. It has trained over 4,60,000 employees of various IT companies.

24x7 Learning Solutions recently bagged the coveted "Red Herring 100 Asia" award. The award recognises the 100 private Asian firms driving the future of technology.

Although Karthik refused to disclose the company's revenue figures as he is bound by the non-disclosure agreement with his investors and venture funds, the company reported a turnover of over $5 million in 2005-06. The company is set to register 400 per cent growth during the current fiscal, he said.

Said Karthik, "When we started five years ago, e-learning as a concept was non-existent in India. Though there were a few companies, they were not catering to the needs of the industry, mainly because they were engaged in providing classroom education. We found a gap in the need of IT companies for training employees and created an online real-time education tool."

The clientele of 24x7 is a who's who of Indian IT industry and some of the top corporates like Aditya Birla Group, Accenture, Ashok Leyland, Bharti Group, ING Vysya, L&T Infotech, Murugappa Group, 3G, EXL Services, Compaq, Satyam, Patni and Wipro Technologies.

The company raised $10 million from venture fund Kitven and other angel investors early this year to expand its business. The company is currently exploring options to launch its e-learning programmes in Europe, Africa and South East Asian countries.

24x7 Learning is now venturing into providing e-learning solutions to final year engineering students in Tier-II cities and towns in the country. Out of 85 colleges identified, the company has now entered into an agreement with 15 engineering colleges.

The company has partnered with SkillSoft, the world's largest provider of off-the-shelf IT and business skills content. It provides the largest collection of online books from the world's leading publishers in partnership with Books24x7.

Content for the telecom domain comes from Ossidian, Ireland. Auralog in France provides them the widest range of basic to advanced online courses for language training in English (US and UK), French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese courses. 24x7 learning provides online typing skills content from TypingMaster, Finland.