That there is a gap between industry and academia, especially in today’s fast-changing world, is an issue that many B-schools across the world are trying to address. Some get industry heads to speak to MBA students while others encourage internships across various sectors.
But Chennai Business School (CBS) has gone one step ahead with its new initiative called ‘Knowledge Exchange’, that will be launched on September 26. With the aim of using technology to create solutions for industry, Knowledge Exchange, they say, is a “fresh approach to meaningful interaction with industry”.
Speaking to BLoC, Sridar Natarajan, Dean of CBS, said they came up with the concept of Knowledge Exchange to add value to industry, and bridge the gap between academia and industry. “Since businesses face a lot of problems, we thought of combining the expertise of our HR professors and our promoters, who have vast industry knowledge, take the help of our students’ research, frame a solution, and, with a technology partner, package all this into an easy plug-and-play module.”
The institute is planning to launch three modules:
1) Human Resources Management System or HRMS, that covers all aspects of HR. The tool also provides interaction through a user’s phone, and includes a training and development aspect based on CBS’ curriculum.
2) Business travel, that provides end-to-end facility for managing travel.
3) Payroll system, that also takes into account employees’ productivity.
Each of these has a unique interface, is on the cloud and can be used with minimum customisation and installation. Since this is a plug-and-play model, it will not have customisations to suit individual company’s needs. “However, if there is a need for customised HRMS, it will be taken up on a case-to-case basis,” said Sridar.
With the ever-changing requirements of the environment and consequently, the consumers (in this case, businesses), CBS is aware that the module will have to be upgraded frequently. “There is always a necessity to come out with updated versions of any software, and this could relate to both functionality and technology.,” he explained.
JN Amrolia, founding director and CEO of the institute, said that these modules are particularly for the SMEs. “We do a lot of work with CII, and one of the main problems we hear of is that small and medium industries are not able to recruit high-level professionals because they can’t pay them. “We don’t get good people, we don’t understand the system, it’s too complicated, too costly, I can’t do SAP” are a few refrains we hear.”
Which is why, unlike software such as Oracle or SAP, which are out of reach for small businesses, these modules are designed particularly keeping the small and medium enterprises in mind.
Solutions
To design the solution, apart from the expertise they have in the form of their faculty and promoters, they would also need ground research. In this regard, they were helped by their students.
Generally, as part of their curriculum, students are required to spend time with industry. CBS used this to their advantage. Explaining how they did it, Sridar elaborates, “Suppose students were studying performance management, we ask them to meet senior HR professionals in the service and manufacturing industries and learn of the different practices they follow in the performance area, and the challenges they face.” The findings are then included in the programme.
A live module
One of these modules is already live. “The HR product that we offer is being used by VIT University,” said K Krishnan, Member, Governing Council, of CBS. The uniqueness of HRMS, he added, is that it is as sophisticated and user-intuitive as SAP or Oracle. “And a good point is that it’s on pay-per-use basis. If a big software firm one day wants to use this for, say, two lakh employees, then it will pay for two lakh people. If an SME with 100 employees wants to use it, the payment will be for 100 employees. And it’s all in the cloud, so it’s cutting-edge technology.”
The HRMS also includes a training and development tool, but it’s more than just a module. “It’s like a warehouse full of content from CBS. So whether you want knowledge about basics in finance or branding, or if you want to develop competencies in various areas, all of these are part of our curriculum, which is being integrated with the product,” explained Krishnan.
Giving another example, Sridar spoke of an employee who, in the appraisal, is told that her analytical skills need to improve. Now, the employee feels frustrated because she doesn’t know how to go about it. There are, of course, MOOCs available online for free, but there are so many subjects and modules that it will leave such learners confounded! “We have designed the modules in such a way that each model is completed in around 15-20 minutes, and it is comprehensive. Not only will they know what they should learn, they will also know where and how to learn.”