iPRIMED REVIEWS BY INDUSTRY LEADERS

 Speed to market and peak operational efficiency are critical to success in any business. When I look for I.T. resources, I look for people who can make a difference right away. New college graduates are often equipped with decent technical skills, but it can take months or even years of immersion in a real business environment before they gain the well rounded skills needed to be fully productive.

The team at iPRIMED understands that value in I.T. is derived through a complex mixture of skills that extend well beyond technology. The ability to understand complex business processes, effective communication, anticipating end-user needs, poise under pressure, and a host of other non-technical skills are what separate regular developers from the rare individuals who can truly add business value and are indispensible to an organization.

I have worked with one of the founders of iPRIMED for many years, and I know that he has a deep understanding of what makes I.T. resources excel in real-world environments. He and his team at iPRIMED have put together an exciting curriculum that better prepares new college graduates for the challenges and demands of today’s business. The teaching methods they employ take into consideration the differences in the way individuals learn and facilitate comprehension rather than sheer memorization. This type of learning makes it much easier for students to apply what they’ve learned and that is where value is created.

Greg Latour, Senior Vice President Strategic Development, Cellular South, Inc., Mississippi, USA

 While the global pool of IT professionals has expanded significantly, there is still a challenge in finding technical resources that have the supplemental skills to thrive in a business focused environment. IT and IT Enabled Services are first and foremost people businesses, and the individuals entering these industries need to be equipped with tools to bridge gaps in culture and experience.

The iPRIMED team understands the difference between a strong technical professional and an industry–ready, business resource. They also understand how to equip individuals with methods and tools for assessing their environment and responding appropriately. The leaders at iPRIMED have used their deep industry knowledge and experience to create a curriculum that will greatly benefit anyone that is looking for an advantage in today’s global market.

Mike Johnson, Head – Testing Center of Excellence, Level 3 Communications, USA

 In today’s converging world, technology has become an integral part of business and if harnessed properly, has the power to transform business. In order to get the most from technology, professionals need to be cognizant of the context in which it operates and the fact that technology doesn’t work in isolation – it is there to support and enable the business operations of an enterprise. Similarly, enterprise operation teams need to be aware of what technology can and cannot do and how it interplays with the fundamentals of operations. There is tremendous synergy that can be exploited if the technology and operations piece go in tandem. This basically implies, that IT and ITeS professionals need to have a sound mix of technology, business, domain and a host of non technical skills required to work efficiently and effectively as a team in the constant pursuit of excellence.

Having worked with Tier 1 firms in India, both on the IT and BPO side, I believe that the transformational power of IT and ITeS is not being harnessed fully. While the “Generals” understand and keep talking about moving up the value chain, the “foot soldiers” do not understand their language which results in suboptimal implementations of the vision. Bulk of the work force in the industry are either fresh graduates or ones having less than 2 -3 years of experience and while they have some direct skills, they lack how to leverage the same in a complex and changing business situation. At times, they fail to realize that the contextual skills become equally or more important than the direct skills resulting in myriad of issues.

The iPRIMED team has come up with an innovative methodology that helps budding professionals learn these skills in an integrated, real life and experiential manner so that they can hit the ground running when they join an organization. The iPRIMED leadership team realizes that behavioral change is a complex and challenging task and have factored psychological, developmental, social and cultural aspects into the curriculum to drive this transformation in individuals. I am confident that anyone aspiring to become a global professional will benefit from this innovative curriculum and their unique delivery methodology.

Shan Nagappan, Senior VP – IT, Insight Enterprises, Tempe, Arizona, USA

 Having spent the last 25 years working and traveling across 60+ countries playing various roles on the business and outsourcing side, I find it perplexing that entry level professionals, irrespective of which area they represent (technology or business) and irrespective of the kind of academic background they come from, always struggle to come up to speed and be productive on the shop floor. Either they lack vocation/life skills due to the lack of exposure and improper orientation during their formative years, typically visible in the Colonial countries, or they lack theoretical, analytical and logical understanding skills, typically seen in some of the other countries. I have found that there are takers to my views on this subject in the analyst communities that I closely work with, my clients and my teams (current and past).

I have always wondered as to why hasn’t anyone with the right capabilities stepped up to fill this gap esp. as entry/junior level professionals comprise bulk of the workforce of many large organizations. It is heartening to see that the iPRIMED team has taken up this enormous challenge and have come up with a methodology which takes into account the nuances of dealing with young adults while striking a balance between the two different kind of skill buckets. The fact that the iPRIMED curriculum will be delivered by a mix of industry professionals ( customers like us and IT & ITeS service providers) who have groomed and developed large teams, gives me the confidence that justice will be done to the innovative curriculum that the iPRIMED team has developed – students stand to gain significantly from this cumulative expertise and experience and become more industry ready

Sunil Narang, CEO & Founder, AdRem, Denver, Colorado, USA

 There is a big difference between book-educated students and intelligent knowledge workers. The folks at iPRIMED not only understands the difference, but with their unique process, also know how to develop adaptable knowledge workers (learning workers) that are crucial to enterprises that are navigating, shaping and building dynamic and complex information-based businesses of today and tomorrow.

Thomas Hsieh, CEO, SplinterRock, California, USA

 The global IT industry is on a long term trajectory for tremendous growth. Part of the challenge for graduates from India to compete at a global level is to master the same skills and tools available to players across the world. Graduating from a good college or university is but the first step in your career path. Academic proficiency has little bearing on solving real life problems in the enterprise, rather the abilitiy to keep learning becomes a pre-requisite. Its not how much you know but how quickly you can learn and adapt in order to get the job done.
Working in a corporate environment, blending in with a matrixed organization spanning multiple time zones, picking domain knowledge of the industry you are involved with require skills such as working with remote teams, time management, mastering communications skills and messaging tools, empathy for other ways of solving problems and focusing on results.
I have seen first hand how even the brightest and the best struggle with working within the situations to which they are assigned and require a lot of hand holding before they can become effective. To shorten this learning curve, a new approach is needed to make these folks 'battle ready' to take on the above challenges. iPRIMED is uniquely situated to provide these skills and tools for folks looking to step their game up to the next level. Given the ever greater needs for manpower in the coming years, iPRIMED will help close the gap between the demand for folks with these skills and the current available manpower pool. Using iPRIMED's methodology and curriculum, professionals will be able to meet the challenges necessary for staying with trajectory of tremendous growth.

Arvind Puri, CEO, Talus Technologies Inc, California, USA

 I have had IT teams work with me, both in house and outsourced, during my multiple years in the product development and management group. In most situations and especially with the entry level professionals, one area of concern has been their difficulty to understand the business aspects and the primary need for the technology intervention (which they help bring in) and the elements of change that a organization has to go through during such intervention. I understand that technical skills are a must have in these professionals, however for them to become a well rounded professional they need to be able to work effectively with other teams and departments, be aware and appreciative of the fact that business changes directions which results in planned and unplanned changes and how to deal with the same in a positive spirit, think few steps ahead rather than being reactive. A well balanced mix of technical and non technical ( what iPRIMED calls “Core skills”) skills is the recipe for success.

I have known Navin for many years and I know he understands this much better than most and I have found ample demonstrations of the same in his teams that have worked with me. He has truly been able to build and groom global professionals fit for today’s fast changing milieu. I am confident that he and his leadership team will be able to help students acquire these complex skills in a seemingly integrated and holistic manner

Salpi Bilanjian, Sr. Product Manager, EarthLink, Inc., Los Angeles, USA

 I have worked with one of the iPRIMED founders in the past and I know that his team at iPRIMED have in-depth understanding of dynamic resource requirements in today's IT/ ITES industry.
iPRIMED team has identified a pressing need for all IT/ ITES businesses. While the pool of educated professionals in India has grown significantly in last few years in terms of quantity, it still takes a company several months of training and coaching before a fresh hire is industry ready. The team at iPRIMED has designed their offerings in a very practical, industry oriented manner with a solid methodology developed by seasoned executives. I have no doubt that their services will be very useful in meeting the challenge of being able to on-board trained, industry ready professionals without losing months on training and on-boarding.

Manish Jain, Program Director, BT Global Services

 There is a difference between being educated and true competency. Many school graduates receive book knowledge but lack the life skills that will then allow them to truly exercise what they learned at university. In order to be effective in your chosen career you need life skills that allow you to better communicate and collaborate with others. iPRIMED is all about filling the gap so that you can meet your full potential and have more opportunities to succeed. After having worked with some of the leadership at iPRIMED I am certain that they have the right ideas and talent that will help make true industry professionals that are sought out by others for their extraordinary abilities.

Chris Yetman, VP, Infrastructure Operations, Amazon.com, USA

 Technical skills are only the beginning for IT professionals. Soft skills are key drivers for success in any industry and particularly in IT due to the cross functional nature of IT projects and IT service delivery processes. The ability to communicate, collaborate and solve problems with multiple groups and at multiple levels within an organization can be the difference between success and failure for IT professionals. There is a distinct gap between the demand and supply of personnel who are skilled in these areas and bridging that gap will be critical for those individuals and providers who want to remain competitive in the future. iPRIMED has stepped in to bridge this gap and has the methodology and the wherewithal to help professionals become more employable

Deborah Fiorella, VP, Enterprise Planning & Operations, EarthLink, Inc., Los Angeles, USA

  Once I was introduced to iPRIMED and its mission, I immediately knew it would be an outstanding success. From a business perspective, the most difficult aspect of outsourcing is finding people that have the right combination of hard skills and soft skills. We need people that can effectively communicate and immediately step in and provide value. I have no doubt that iPRIMED will greatly benefit both students and employers as it contributes to a workforce that is better equipped to solve real business problems.

Brett Hatten, General Manager, SourcePro, Inc., Mississippi, USA