Bridging the Skills Gap: Avaali Solutions on Workforce Stability and Digital Upskilling in the IT Sector
CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Ms Srividya Kannan, Founder and Director, Avaali Solutions.
What is your evaluation of the recent wave of layoffs in the Indian IT sector, especially in prominent tech companies? Does this trend indicate a broader industry shift, and how is Avaali Solutions adapting to these changes to ensure workforce stability?
The recent wave of layoffs in the Indian IT sector, particularly in prominent technology companies, has raised several concerns. This trend could indicate a broader industry shift towards a more talent-specific workforce model. Amid the growing demand for IT and digital skills, businesses increasingly seek talent with specialized skills and experience in emerging technologies.
As companies embrace new technologies, the demand for skills like cloud computing, data science, machine learning, and AI continues to grow. Unfortunately, many existing IT professionals often lack the necessary skills to keep up with these emerging technologies. This leads to an increase in layoffs across the industry as businesses consolidate and reduce overstaffing to remain competitive.
Interestingly, these layoffs are not indicative of a lack of demand for talent in the IT sector. Instead, they highlight a growing demand for new and more diverse skill sets that traditional IT professionals may lack. As such, these layoffs represent a shifting landscape in the Indian IT sector, with a greater emphasis on specific skill sets in high demand.
At Avaali, we recognize the importance of adapting to these changing dynamics in the industry. We are actively investing in our workforce, focusing on working in emerging technologies and ensuring that our team has the necessary expertise to stay ahead of the curve. Additionally, we foster a culture of continuous learning where employee development is highly prioritized. By doing so, we aim to remain relevant and competitive while ensuring that our employees have job security and stability in these uncertain times.
In the fast-changing digital landscape, how important is it for organizations to invest in education and training programs aimed at nurturing digital skills among young professionals?
The digital landscape is evolving at an unprecedented rate. The shortage of digital skills is going to be a pervasive challenge. In this context, a crucial factor for success for any organization is cultivating relevant digital skills.
The benefits of investing in digital education and skill-building programs are multifaceted. Firstly, these programs can help professionals to stay relevant in the current world. Secondly, investing in digital education and training programs could help organizations attract and retain top talent. Young professionals increasingly prioritize learning and development opportunities when choosing an employer. Comprehensive training programs help organizations differentiate and position themselves as employers of choice.
Finally, investing in digital education and training programs could help organizations stay ahead of the curve and maintain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Skilled teams can enable significant competitive advantage, increasing revenue and market share.
In conclusion, investing in building digital skills for the workforce cannot be overstated. Organizations that fail to invest in such programs risk falling behind their competitors and missing out on the many benefits of the digital revolution. By prioritizing digital skill building, organizations can position themselves for long-term success in the fast-changing digital landscape of the future.
How can businesses, educational institutions, and government entities collaborate effectively to align training programs with industry demands and equip young professionals with essential skills for success in the modern workforce?
To effectively align training programs with industry demands and equip young professionals with the essential skills required in the modern workforce, businesses, educational institutions, and government entities must collaborate in an integrated and strategic manner. This collaboration can take different forms, including developing partnerships, joint initiatives, and coordinated efforts to identify everyday needs and priorities.
One effective way for collaboration is for businesses to provide valuable insights and feedback on industry trends and demands. This could include participation in curriculum development, training program design, and ongoing evaluation of program effectiveness. On the other hand, educational institutions can leverage these insights to design relevant and up-to-date training programs that meet industry standards and equip learners with the necessary knowledge and skills.
The government should establish strong links between the education sector and the labour market to ensure that training programs align with industry demands. This entails collaborating with the private and public sectors to identify skills gaps and shortages and ensuring that training programs address these gaps.
Collaboration between the three entities can also be reinforced through financing and funding mechanisms. Government entities can provide financial incentives to businesses and educational institutions to encourage them to participate in industry-led collaboration initiatives. Moreover, funding support for workforce development programs can also be provided, enabling greater access to training and education programs for young professionals.
Finally, communication and coordination are critical to ensuring all stakeholders are aligned to equip young professionals with essential skills. Regular meetings, joint planning sessions, and reporting can ensure that all parties work towards common goals in a coordinated way.
Effective collaboration between businesses, educational institutions, and government entities is essential for aligning training programs with industry demands and equipping young professionals with the skills they need to succeed in the modern workforce. Through joint initiatives, financing, communication, and coordination, stakeholders can work together towards creating a more relevant, effective, and responsive workforce development ecosystem.
What specific initiatives and programs has Avaali Solutions implemented to enhance skills and promote work with automation technologies for its workforce?
At Avaali, we recognize that digital skills are integral to our business. As such, we provide our teams with ample opportunities to enhance their skills and stay up-to-date with the ever-evolving digital landscape. One of our initiatives to achieve this is the knowledge swap session, a structured program aimed at cross-skilling our teams on various solutions. This program encourages team collaboration, fostering a culture of shared learning and growth.
Our commitment to enhancing digital skills is not limited to the knowledge swap session. Within each practice, we prioritize ongoing training to ensure our employees stay abreast with the latest technological trends in their respective areas. This proactive measure allows us to offer our clients comprehensive solutions and services.
Moreover, our innovation teams work on next-generation technologies and solutions. These teams research specific technology areas extensively, providing inputs that guide our decision-making processes. They also develop pilots for emerging solutions, allowing us to bring our clients groundbreaking solutions much faster.
At Avaali, we believe in a work-life balance that encourages employee health and well-being. To promote this, we launched a program called Kosha, where we constantly engage our teams with sessions on topics related to health and well-being. This initiative is a testament to our commitment to employee welfare beyond the workplace.
Overall, our concerted efforts in enhancing employee skills, innovation and wellness ensure that our clients receive services from a highly skilled and motivated team that translates to top-quality results.
Given that Avaali Solutions primarily serves upper-mid to large enterprises, how does the company tailor its cost optimization strategies to address the specific needs and challenges of these larger organizations?
Avaali delivers cost optimization via three broad pillars – we help enterprises set up their own Captive GBS / Shared service centres and automate processes to significantly reduce cycle time to process, improve governance and process cost. Additionally, we deliver digital workplaces to ensure negligible reliance on paper and manual workflows. We also have an automation pillar to help companies identify process improvement areas or automation pipelines via Process Mining and automate processes via IDP and RPA solutions. We provide consulting services to help define a roadmap and follow that through with implementation customized to suit customers’ requirements. We actively work with clients on change management/adoption. We also support companies to set up their automation CoE’s.
