Article: TechWorks @ Concentrix: What happens when tradition meets invention?

Technology

TechWorks @ Concentrix: What happens when tradition meets invention?

Raj Nehru from Concentrix explains the need for shift from conventional to futuristic model. Also, how Simulation and Gamification helps in increasing productivity of the company.
TechWorks @ Concentrix:  What happens when tradition meets invention?

As Archimedes famously said ‘Give me a lever long enough…and I shall move the world’. So leveraging technology does by bringing in competitive advantage and efficiency to the company. “When it comes to leveraging technology, I will share with you the magic of leveraging technology and what low cost approach Concentrix adopted and made significant difference. Also, how we carved out something from something which already exists and we witnessed its impact. Also, how can a conventional tool be seen from a very distinctive perspective and be used for scaling in the organization,” avers Raj Nehru from Concentrix.

He further reveals challenges faced by the company in achieving so, “Some of the issues and challenges we face- These two distinctive skill set require attention. Today, we are the biggest resource pool of working population and almost 85% of population is millennial. They join us right after college.  Their experience is different and how they adjust themselves is challenging. It may lead to high amount of attrition. On one side we have young millennial population – which has to serve the customers and on the other side we have delivery managers - who manage these millennials and as well as customers to deliver profitable business. So, the biggest challenge is how we get these people. Delivery mangers we get from within the system and not outside.  Next - How do we create that capability within the organization and at the same time not let the business suffer the cost and profitability. The biggest hurdle faced by the industry is moving from linear to non-linear model i.e bringing the shift in this business model. Also, the focus of revenue managers is more on productivity, efficiency and an increase in total productive output from people. Challenge is how to get these people aligned with the business understanding – so that they can perform better for the organization,” adds Raj Nehru.

From conventional to futuristic model

“When you have to deal with large number of employees you cannot do it with conventional methods. One of the biggest challenges we have is - all over the globe we are spread in 23 locations. How do we integrate these offices branched out at different geographical locations. You have a process that needs to be maintained. Focus is to create consistent job capability model in Concentrix around the world which is more mature and new. If you have someone sitting in china, someone in Europe, someone in US and someone in India – you have to have a model which is consistently delivered not by traditional tools but by some more advanced tools. Conventional methods include – classroom teaching, coaching etc. Futuristic model includes gamification and simulation – which is the answer to the challenge and we use it,” elucidates Raj.

Gamification and Simulation

Gamification and Simulation have proven to be very effective for the organizations. These methods ensure reduction of total time up to 50% taken otherwise for training and groundwork.  Also, the response time of people has increased by 46%.

“We studied the entire job role and figured out what do these operation managers do every day. They take most critical decisions, which took them almost 1 -2 years to learn. We thought how can we shorten the entire experience? We collected all these decisions taken by all operation managers and consolidated it into a game,” reveals Raj Nehru.

Further, he explains how Gamification and Simulation helps in increasing the productivity of the company, where they developed a system that facilitated employees to learn in two days which earlier they learned in 36 months by classroom teaching method.

“Each team leader has his own team which is converted into small groups.  They are given different names like football or soccer team names. Each team has goals to achieve. They learn and deliver tasks crossing all hurdles in the game. Their delivery method is methodical because it is converted into a format of a game. So, every day they come to work and whatever they do gets linked to the dashboard on the screen. It is converted into a soccer game pattern. They see the results and monitor how closely the are competing with other teams. It creates a positive competitive sense of performance in the system and because of that  each individual tries to perform better. The quality of the team goes up and they are able to gauge where they are lagging. It creates lot of fun and excitement in the system. Two teams enter into the finals – others gets eliminated in the process. It is becoming very popular and it has raised lot of efficiency . Employees are really excited when they come to the office. It has impacted our attrition rate and has improved our efficiency. It has actually created distinctive form of learning and made huge difference to concentrix . The cost is also not too high. This innovative model can definitely be used for scaling and training.”

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Topics: Technology, #TechHR2016

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