By T.Radha Krishna

World-over, e-learning is fast changing the system of higher education as well as corporate training. Anyone can access content anywhere, anytime, thus reducing learner mobility to the minimum.

The Boston Group, a global provider of IT and e-learning solutions, offers a full suite of e-learning solutions, ranging from custom content development and off-the-shelf course ware to software platforms for learning and skills management. To its credit, the company's e-learning solutions are now used by more than 700 organisations, including leading universities in the US, and over two million people in 40 countries worldwide. Founded in 1988, The Boston Group offers a range of services to include IT outsourcing, e-Learning, and a series of vertical market solutions, including e-governance.

"In the coming days, our Indian subsidiary will play a major role in offshore works. We will move our offshore projects to Hyderabad, where our Indian subsidiary is located," says the $45 million company, The Boston Group's president and CEO Subu M Kota. Kota spoke to Sify.com in an exclusive interview. Excerpts:

How big a role has e-learning play in higher education today? What are the prospects for growth in e-learning and online campus systems?

E-learning is the fastest-growing sector of the higher-education market. If you look at where the servers, databases and applications are being purchased, the fastest-growing segment is in e-learning. Even bigger than e-learning is e-education - which is the way the web is used to serve not just the core teaching and learning process, but a broader set of services for students and faculty. Even though it’s the fastest growing segment, it’s the newest and holds great opportunity. We are moving from an old economy to a new company view in higher education. Instead of the typical four-year degree, it’s now a 40-year degree, where more and more students take advantage of technology to learn throughout their lives, whether they’re full time or part-time students or already employed.

What is the vision of The Boston Group for higher education and educational portals? How will it help educational institutions and universities meet their technology challenges?

Our vision is to design cost-effective technology solutions and services that are closely aligned with the needs of the industry. This is possible, we believe, because of the in-depth domain knowledge that we have acquired in various industry segments over the years. We focus on education, financial services, government, healthcare and insurance. As the convergence of education and technology continues to evolve at break-neck speed, institutions find an unprecedented array of effective solutions to enrich their educational offerings, and build deeper relationships with current and prospective students, alumni, administrators, and other key stakeholders in education.

Our solutions in this area allows colleges, universities and commercial education providers to bring their academic, administrative, community and other educational services online. Our higher education solution offers robust technology that enables colleges and universities to provide integrated, efficient, and secure services that helps students and faculty. Our educational portal solution, promotes student interaction, and enhances possibilities for co-operation, team work and share knowledge and ideas efficiently.

Today, many colleges and universities are offering classes online and rolling out new continuing education programs in an effort to reach a broader audience and attract new students. Our learning management solution offers a complete, end-to-end integrated online learning system. Our solution is e-commerce enabled with remote registration, content delivery, learner profiles, multimedia, exams and assessments. Our content development solution offers several resources to make creating courses and courseware a smooth and effective process. We can work with your organisation and educators in a highly collaborative process to create your online courses.

You have a strong presence in Asia (India, China, Singapore, Malaysia and Korea). Has the TBG business vision changed in the wake of SARS?

No. In fact, we have grown during this period. Many universities had realised that to stop the spread of the disease, changing the teaching and learning method was a good approach. For instance, during the SARS situation, the China Education Ministry was well prepared to take on the task - relying on the convenient network technology to conduct 'non face-to-face learning.' The ministry felt that it (e-learning) was a worth promoting. At present, many universities are turning to e-learning.

What is your priority this year?

We continue to focus on outsourcing and e-learning.

Do you see your Indian subsidiary playing a major role?

Yes. It’s already playing a key role. It will further play a major role in outsourcing. Offshore software outsourcing is playing an increasingly important role in IT strategies of major corporations and attracting the interest of business and technology decision-makers across the vertical industry spectrum. Leveraging our India advantage, we are able to provide different services to customers that allow them to save 40-70 percent on cost, with faster time-to-market and without any compromise on quality. As a global service provider, we leverage our resources to offer a variety of project delivery options for our clients, including onsite delivery, offsite delivery, offshore delivery, or a combination of these. We offer our offshore development services in two types - extended teams and dedicated development centres.

What are your current projects in India?

We are working with a few leading educational institutions and corporate houses in India. We are in advanced talks with Iridium Interactive Ltd, a Hyderabad-based ebusiness solution provider for designing e-learning content.

Do you see an extended role to be played in Asia Pacific?

We continue to focus on India and other markets, including Malaysia in Asia. We find that language is problem in China while we see a growing demand in Malaysia and Singapore. This year we bagged a prestigious project from the Singapore Tourism Board to implement an e-learning solution based on its flagship IntraLearn suite of e-learning solutions. The Citibank Pvt Bank in Singapore has implemented an online learning program for its employees in Singapore and Hong Kong. To initiate its e-learning project, Citibank turned to IntraLearn not only because Intralearn has a robust e-learning software platform, but also because it has a regional office and resources right in Singapore. We are planning to expand our presence in Asia. The Boston Group will open an office in Seoul, Korea. Paul Han, who has over 25 years of experience, will head the Korean office. We have been very successful in the Asia-Pacific Region for the past several years and by opening an office in Korea, it will not only add to our presence, but also lead us into the one of most wired economies of the world.

What are the projections this year?

We did $45 million last year. We see a growth of 25-30 percent in revenues for 2003.