There is nothing like an able and qualified workforce, that can determine the path of a company. However, when it comes to practice many companies struggle to find the right fit for their goals and strategies. Enterprise training generally looked upon as a random exercise just to oblige to corporate norms can actually redesign not just the company's future but the individuals' too. SpringPeople is a leading IT training provider in India, catering to the workforce training needs of big players in the IT industry around the globe. Analytics Insight has engaged in an exclusive interview with Peeush Bajpai, CEO& Founder, of SpringPeople.

1. Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization, and the services that it offers.  With what mission and objectives was the company set up? In short, tell us about your journey since the inception of the company.

SpringPeople is the biggest enterprise IT training provider in India. Global technology leaders, such as SAP, Siemens, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, IBM, Oracle, Red Hat, Microsoft, Dell EMC, MuleSoft, and so on, have chosen SpringPeople as their master certified training partner to deliver their authentic, certified training to enterprises and IT professionals across India. SpringPeople's training programs are powered by LnDCloud—an Enterprise Training platform—providing enterprise reporting, detailed analytics, customizable workflows, and fully automated end-to-end training orchestration.

In the last 20-25 years, the IT industry has grown massively in India and so has the IT workforce. People working in IT have been growing by the thousands and millions almost every day. Back in 2009, when I was in one of the big MNCs, I noticed that for IT companies to organize truly corporate standard training for their employees was difficult.

There were hardly any avenues and when I say corporate standard what I mean is professionally organized training, delivered using high-quality content by true subject matter experts (SMEs) and using a platform that brings together all the elements of learning so that the learner goes from learning technology, applying what they have learned and practicing it to finally become production-ready. And I could not see that then. There was this big gap in the market and I started SpringPeople in 2009 to address that particular gap.

And the journey, till now, has been quite remarkable. Fortunately, unlike most startups which have a struggle phase in the beginning we kind of hit the ground from Day 1 for the simple reason that I managed to partner with some of the biggies in the tech world, like Spring Source, MuleSoft, Elastic, among others. These are multi-billion-dollar companies pushing technology boundaries. It meant we were bringing their authentic courses in India to IT companies and the orders were coming in and that's how we grew.

2. What is the biggest USP that differentiates your company from competitors?

The main thing we do is a lot of training for corporates. That is a big part of the business. But, recently, we have launched our SAP-authorized academy. There is a huge demand for trained professionals who have proven skills, along with credentials. And organizations, rather than having to hire people and then mentor and train them to get them deployed, want people who are ready and can come in with their skills and hit the ground running.

That is what our SAP academy does. We have a high training model which means that candidates who sign up for training are finally going to be interviewed and given a job offer letter from biggies, like Capgemini, Siemens, and so on. And all that the candidates have to do is complete the training, and get certified and they already have a job offer in hand. We have actually turned the training model on its head.

Now, it is not like you come in, get trained, and then try to get a job. We are offering you a guaranteed job. The way we do it is, that you get selected based on what you know now and what you will be learning with us. You already have a placement and then you complete the journey of learning—this is our USP.

3. Please brief us about the products/services/solutions you provide customers and how they get value out of it.

We offer comprehensive training modules in Instructor-Led Training (ILT), Hybrid, and e-learning modes, among others, to upskill employees of leading companies. We also offer subscription-based services, like Cloud Labs, Assessment, and Project Evaluation for various courses, providing the tools that L&D managers may need to meet the learning requirements for their organizations.

As pioneers in the Edtech space in India, we leverage the latest and the best in technology to create compelling learning solutions—our digital learning platform that provides end-to-end training orchestration that is pre-integrated with popular corporate Learning Management Systems (LMSs). It engages learners through gamified experiences, seamless in-browser IDE & Labs for unlimited usage. It is available in the Cloud and does away with the hassles of installation/configuration, security concerns, or launching and logging into countless VMs.

Hybrid learning is a combination of a live ILT class experience and an e-learning environment for learners. On top of our high-quality e-learning courses, we bring authentic e-learning libraries from AWS, Microsoft, and EC Council, among others, that are directly accessible on our digital learning platform. The curriculum and the library content are regularly updated to keep learners at pace with the ever-evolving technologies and software solutions.

When it comes to niche technologies as a focus area, we work with the best trainers and SMEs from diverse fields with real-time work experience on the latest software versions and tools of trending technologies. We have in-house and contractual trainers who constantly work on the curriculum to create customized solutions that best suit the needs of our clients.

4. How does your company's strategy facilitate the transformation of an enterprise?

Technology experts and leaders are wizards at the very heart of successful organizations. And training helps employees upgrade their existing skills, gain new ones to improve performance, boost productivity and so become better leaders. A company is what each employee accomplishes and, so, organizations must do everything possible to ensure that employees perform their best.

Our training is specially tailored to cater through end-to-end new hire training programs (campus-to-company), which, in several cases, start even before fresh hires join the organization. We do have focused training classes, hybrid learning, and enterprise/group-wise programs for upskilling/re-skilling employees, as well as programs designed for managers/leaders on the latest technologies, besides professional and leadership development.

Successful organizations understand the need to invest in enterprise training so that their workforce can continue to be relevant in the fast-changing technology landscape and attract and retain talent.

5. What is your Leadership Mantra?

The idea is to be good at what you do and loves to do. I would say work hard, play harder! When you are having fun, go all out and enjoy as much as you want. But, while at work and when you are trying to achieve something, try to be the best at it. Don't just while away your valuable time. That's a sin according to me. That is what I believe in and have done all my life. When I put my head to something, I try to be the best at it. Or I, at least, try to be good in the process and that counts a lot. So, don't waste your time and carry on doing what you can do best and know that something will surely come out of it.