TAKING THE TECHNOLOGY ROUTE TO SUCCESS

With changes in technol­ogy accel­erating at a rapid pace, it’s become even more essential for people to master technology to be productive and turn into valuable employees who can optimise, program and invent solutions—and even grow companies of their own. Many enter­prises have already taken a note of this revolu­tion and are offering IT training to the corporate sector and individuals. One such global player is New Horizons, which helps businesses advance by upgrading the skills of its human resources.

For 35 years, the com­pany has provided more than 30 million students with industry-leading technical training that delivers the most relevant and intuitive computer courses and certifica­tions. The IT and busi­ness training solutions provided by the company have kept businesses—from start-ups to global enterprises—ahead of the technology curve for over 35 years.

With more than 250 learning centres in over 35 countries around the world, New Horizons is all set to enter the Indian market. Why India and why now? Replies Mi­chael Smith, Group Vice President, International Operations and Fran­chise Development, New Horizons: “India is one of the five core markets that we are focussing on. The Indian demographics are very interesting and the young population is very focused and hungry for education while being quite willing to invest in education. So we want to ensure that our business here can leverage these needs properly.”

The company has a vast portfolio and offers about 2500 courses. “We train in technology as well as in leadership skills, use of English, project management and everything in between. Education remains the core focus but we diversify as per the specific regional need,” Smith states. Elaborating about the USP of their offerings, he says, “The main thing that we want to do differently is making the best use of cloud-based solutions. These solutions are doing well in western markets and we will make sure that these are implemented as effec­tively in India too.” New Horizons is an authorized partner to top technology provid­ers including Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA and VMware. The brand runs its own training centres as well which helps them understand better what it takes to succeed in this industry. The company has been providing these education services to the corporate sector as well. “The biggest challenge that the corporate sector faces is shortage of highly skilled technologists. So even though we focus on providing training mod­ules, we also help com­panies with a pipeline of new people who have the required abilities,” says Shelley Morris, COO and Executive Vice President, New Horizons.

FRANCHISE FOCUS

The company begun franchising in 1992 and is quite upbeat about us­ing the franchise model to enter India. Talking about the franchisees they would like to have on board, Smith says, “We don’t have a ‘one size fits all’ approach. We have technology-focused core curriculum and so our partners should ideally have an understanding of IT services and educa­tion. More than anything else, a franchisee should be able to steer a client to­wards success in business through skilling upgrades. The company aims to have 50 centres by 2025. In the long term, we want to have a national presence,” Smith reveals.

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