The reality of job losses on account of disruption by AI and automation is very real. IT companies have quietly asked people to leave. Some are visible in the public domain, but there are many more stories that are not reported. Jobs and businesses are getting upended by new tech.
Here are some examples – the coaching and mentoring market is facing disruption. People who have invested their savings in acquiring various levels of ICF certifications and assessments (after spending lakhs) are finding themselves increasingly in a spot of bother. Organisations are opting for AI-based coaching tools that are much more affordable. Content and copywriters are having a hard time commanding a premium for their services. Many of them are lost, not knowing how to reskill and survive.
The Executive Education market targeting working executives is undergoing significant changes. How to be relevant in the face of increasing disruption is a question being discussed in the corridors and breakfast tables at all leading B-Schools. The demand for Executive Education programs from premier B-Schools is seeing a perceptible shift in favour of skills, knowledge, and behaviours that are grounded in conceptual-level thinking. Anything that can help organisations and professionals survive, anticipate trends, fight disruptive tech forces, identify opportunities, and re-imagine strategy through the re-application of core management principles is seeing traction.
B-Schools are increasingly partnering with Ed Techs to promote and market their programs because of the lack the skills and resources to market their own programs in a highly competitive market. This has led to a plethora of “me-too” offerings with very little to differentiate among offerings. Participants are questioning the rationale of spending their hard-earned savings on unaffordable programs. This has also led to everyone being an “IIM / ISB Alumni” with considerable brand dilution.
We have come across Ed Tech companies promoting Exec Ed programs of various IIMs and appointing sales franchises across India for a 10% sales commission! The quality of conversations by outsourced partners is very poor, and the IIMs are seldom aware of the sales conversations that happen when a program is marketed by an Ed Tech partner. IIM Bangalore is the only leading IIM in India that has taken note of the challenges of marketing its programs through Ed Tech partners and has avoided partnering with any Ed Tech to date. However, the increasing pressure on revenues, competition, and resources could change in the future.
The Times They Are A-Changin’ – for the Exec Ed market in India.
Rajbir Singh, PhD
Rajbir Singh is a founder and Consulting Partner at Value Centria, a boutique business consulting firm that leverages customer centricity and digital to drive growth and innovation. Additionally, he is the co-founder and CEO of the i4 Mentors Foundation, a startup accelerator. As a not-for-profit, i4 Mentors Foundation is working for “Build for India”, and Healthcare is one of their focus sectors.
Before this, Rajbir led Global Business and IT Consulting businesses at IBM, Oracle, HCL Technologies and Tata Unisys for 25+ years. He has led large, multi-cultural teams spread across the globe and has consulted with Fortune 500 clients across industries, including BFSI, Media, Telecom, Utilities, CPG and Manufacturing. His areas of expertise include Customer Strategy, Innovation Strategy, Business Strategy and Change Management. He has received recognition from Forrester, Pega, SAP and HCL Tech for developing innovative products.
Rajbir has been a visiting faculty at IIIT Delhi, IIT Delhi, NSUT and BIMTech. He is also on the board of a few startup incubators.
Rajbir is an Electronics Engineer from IIT Delhi, an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a PhD from IIT Delhi.
Websites: https://www.valuecentria.in/; https://www.i4mentors.com/
Sudarsan Chakravarthy
Founder, Chief Mentor & Success Coach – myDharma Global
A Spiritual leader, leadership coach, motivational speaker, accomplished global business leader, and an author with keen interests in ancient wisdom, spirituality, science, philosophy, and the arts.
An MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B, Class of 93), India’s premier B-School, with a proven track record in building business, driving revenue & profitability growth and maximizing stakeholder delight.
Versatile and highly accomplished Management Professional with 25+ years of experience in the IT industry spanning across India, ME, Europe and North America.
Has rich experience across a wide range of areas – Digital Transformation, Line of Business Management, Business Operations, Sales, Marketing, IT Strategy, Operations, Finance, Product Management, and Service Delivery Management.
Worked with GBM (IBM GMSR) in Dubai for 20+years and championed several key strategies, including Business transformation, SAP implementation, Market Coverage, Growth Initiatives, Merger, Organizational restructuring, Low-cost services delivery, Market Research, IT Strategy, Business Partner / Channel Management, Operational Excellence, Sales Management, CRM, etc.
A motivational speaker with rich experience in running inspiring empowerment workshops; Has been inspiring and enthralling audiences of all age groups – individuals, groups, youth, families, corporate leaders – across several parts of the world with his captivating lectures; Meticulously gleans profound insights from the treasury of ancient wisdom and presents them in a way that illuminates the contemporary mind and resonates with today’s needs, interests, and challenges.
His life’s mission is to instill nobility and greatness across various strata of society.
Skillfully harmonizes the seemingly conflicting material and spiritual worlds and empowers individuals with a revitalising transformation and helps them to strengthen faith in their limitless potential; Is dedicated to unlocking the God given talents and highest abilities in people and empowering them to celebrate life through their unique contributions to the making of a new and beautiful world.
Subha Parthasarathy has been working with children, parents, and adults since 2006 and is the founder of Magichive. She is a Counselling Psychologist with over 20,000 counselling and training hours spent on 1-on-1 sessions with adults/children and group training sessions. Subha is an experienced trainer and facilitator who delivers workshops and programs that focus on enriching relationships with self and others. Her workshops “Chetana” (parenting workshop since 2009) and “Compassionate Communication based on NVC (since 2016)” are centred around increasing self-awareness and equipping participants with tools and insights that can help in leading an enriching life.
Person Centric Therapy, Mindfulness, and Nonviolent Communication form the cornerstones of her work. She is a Vipassana meditator and has certifications on various methods of interventions based on NLP, CBT, TA, NVC, Gestalt, Movement therapy, Reiki, Deep Listening, etc. She has delivered sessions in IIM Bangalore, IIM Kashipur, Infosys, Infosys BPO, Cap Gemini, Northern Trust, HSBC, etc.
Case Study: Case study on Magichive through Ivey Publishing, Ivey Business School, Canada (Click here for details) published in Oct 2024
Podcasts: Subha has hosted more than 20 free podcasts centred around mindfulness hosted on Spotify ( Click here for details)
Book: A book of 19 poems titled “Verses for Better – Parenting Lessons from Parenting Failures“, a collaborative effort between Magichive and Wunderman Thompson, was published in 2018. The book was nominated for two categories in the prestigious National Level Kyoorious Creative Awards 2019.