Business Solutions

Case Study Tata Consultancy Services

Case Study: Version 1.1

Introduction

Good communication is the key to organizational success today. With businesses In 46 countries, TCS wants to make sure employees communicate effectively in English with global customers and colleagues, regardless of their geographical location. To enable this, TCS selected Pearson English Business Solutions’ ONE platform for its efficacy, scalability, and financial viability. This award-winning, on-demand, cloud-based solution develops Business English skills while providing instant, on-the-job support for work tasks in English – such as writing emails or handling negotiations.

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IndustryIT ServicesBusiness SolutionsConsulting

Business Challenge

Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, consulting and business solutions organization that delivers real results to global business, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. We have more than 300,000 associates of 122 nationalities operating out of 46 countries globally.

In a global environment, communication is the key to keep operations running smoothly in organizations. As the global footprint of TCS expands, it becomes imperative that the diverse workforce spread across geographies develops proficiency in English to conduct business and collaborate with teams globally.

The Culture & Languages Initiatives (CLI) from the TCS Global Talent Development team drives competency and proficiency in English across the organization. The focus of the Business English training program was to meet the challenge created by the scale and spread of employees and the pressing need to make the program work successfully by adapting the company’s business model. The other challenge was to train employees working in client projects to take time out and attend training in a predominantly classroom mode.

The solution was to move away from the traditional instructor-led teaching methods towards flexible anytime, anywhere learning that allowed employees to acquire new skills on their own time, at their own pace and in their own space. A program that would quickly show demonstrable Business English skill-level improvements while optimizing the productivity and impact of the consultant going through the training was the need of the hour.

Solution

TCS selected Pearson English Business Solutions’ ONE platform, an on-demand, cloud-based solution offering 24/7 access to 10 levels of interactive Business English coursework, speaking and pronunciation tools, live virtual group classes, industry-specific terms and more. Designed to deliver immediate results, ONE develops Business English proficiency, while also providing instant and relevant on-the-job support for work tasks –such as writing emails – as well as contextual and cultural learning that can be directly applied to more complex duties, like negotiating, giving presentations, holding conference calls and writing business documents.

As part of a three-year contract from 2012 – 2015, 750 licenses were budgeted globally, with LATAM, India and China seeing the majority of usage. Program participants were selected by their managers based on a direct business need to improve their English skills.

The CLI team set a basic target of having participating employees advance two levels in 100 hours over a four-month period. Using self-study material, e-learning and virtual classroom interactions, the Pearson English ONE learners were able to experience anytime, anywhere learning on a variety of devices across various environments and be selective in their learning.

To support the learners in achieving their targets, the program featured a complete suite of reporting tools, checkpoints and feedback loops to monitor progress. Frequent dashboards sent to the learners, supervisors and other stakeholders reported performance against the targets.

To measure the impact of the program more thoroughly, Pearson English Business Solutions and TCS conducted surveys with local HR staff, assessing any changes in skill levels and implementations on the job.

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ONE develops Business English proficiency, while also providing instant and relevant on-the-job support for work tasks

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Results

Having a common language results in smooth operation of a large organization like TCS, improving productivity and time efficiency. Surveys conducted for business leaders showed at least 20% improvement in working relationships and productivity, and a 33% improvement in time efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Qualitative feedback from business leaders on these parameters showcases the success of the initiative:

Before After

Smooth Working Relationship between fluent speakers of English and participants who underwent this program

Associate always had the fear of communicating their thoughts freely and were always passive due to the fear of being misjudged.

Associates are able to communicate and express more confidently than the ones who did not undergo the program. They have better clarity of thought and have been able to improve their diction and vocabulary.

Productivity (Is more work getting done now that there is less of a language barrier?)

Associate delays their work due to the language barrier. This has always impacted the productivity.

Associates are now spending less time in translating and comprehending. This has helped in better productivity and a planned and focused approach.

Efficiency of Time (Is less time required now to understand each other on mail or phone or face-to-face due to a common language?)

Associate spends a lot of time translating and trying to interpret. The objectives are never met within the stipulated time frame.

Today they understand the process better, make less mistakes and are more compliant. This helps in handling time in the most efficient manner and better utilization of time.

Customer SatisfactionAssociates were always finding it difficult to meet expectations.

Platform is very user friendly and it’s an excellent mix of listening and writing, and the program has benefitted a lot of associates.

Additional data on the 750 licenses covered under the current agreement:

– 59% of the enrolled participants have successfully completed 2 Levels within a short term of 4 months. This percentage goes up to 71% if we consider one level movement from their original level. This exceeds the expectation set during a normal course of deployment.

– Over 38k hours spent by the current set of learners, thereby averaging 49 hours/user (ALL Users)

– Over 162K Activities been completed with an average of 208 Activities per user (ALL USERS)

– Over 162K Activities been completed with an average of 208 Activities per user (ALL USERS)

– Ending Average Competency Level (based on coursed passed) - 6.2 (slightly lower than the 2 Level target*)

Conclusion

Building on the results, TCS continues to expand the rollout of the program across more countries, enabling employees to access the learning anytime, anywhere. In April 2015, a pilot program was rolled out into LATAM to offer Employee’s family members (up to 4 members) access to the digital learning platform they use from Pearson at a subsidized cost. This will enhance the employee’s learning as they can practice at home and create a trickle effect within the community. Programs like this demonstrate why TCS is recognized as a Top Employer in Europe, Latin America and North America according to an assessment by the Top Employers Institute and continues to invest in the continuous learning and excellence of its employees.

About TCS Talent Development

The Talent Development function is responsible for designing and delivering learning programs to enhance human capital of the organization across technology, domain and leadership areas through its major programs - Initial Learning Program (ILP), Continuous Learning Program (CLP) and Leadership Development Program (LDP).

The fast pace of organizational growth geographically and in new technology areas has resulted in the re-definition of the organizational learning direction from being predominantly classroom to virtual. Anytime, anywhere learning - facilitated by iQlass rooms, eLearning, social learning, and virtual certifications while leveraging the power of MOOCS.

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Visit the below sites to learn more:Tata Consultancy Services: www.tcs.comPearson English: www.globalenglish.comContact a Pearson English Representative: www.globalenglish.com/purchase/contact© 2015 Pearson English, a division of Pearson plc