Business Today Net Special

The Whole Nine Yards

There are consulting firms and there are universities, but ever heard of a total solution provider that wears both hats. Australia's Deakin University which has just launched its consulting operations in India, does. BT's Vinod Mahanta writes on a new approach to training and problem solving.

Deakin's Kevin Fuller

All the Arthur Andersens and PWCs of the world please make way for a competitor. Deakin Prime, Australia's largest provider of training, development, education, and management solutions has opened shop in India. Deakin Prime is a wholly owned subsidiary and consulting wing of the Deakin University, Australia. It is neither a consultant nor a group of academicians; instead it's a link between the university and the corporate world. "Ours is a B2B organisation,'' says Kevin W. Fuller, CEO, Deakin Prime.

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Delhi will be the hub for Deakin's operations in the Middle East and Central Asia.

What makes Deakin Prime different from other consultancy services is the way it functions. Consultants study and identify the problem, deliberate, make presentations to the client, and then suggest corrective measures. Deakin's team not only identifies and assesses the training and development needs of its clients, but also establishes clear objectives, creates solutions, delivers, manages the entire process, and measures the 'return on investment' for the clients. In short, it provides a comprehensive solution.

Deakin identifies a nucleus of people from various management schools, associations, and consultancies. In turn, using Deakin's resources these people provide a gamut of services, while Deakin manages the entire show. Currently, there are about 60,000-learner-earner working with Deakin.

The services offered in India include consultancy, instructional design, and material production.

The people from the organisation work with experts till the entire exercise has been successfully completed. "Training units use the organisation's own workplace as the main case study, and the workplace-based applications are a fundamental part of the programme," say Fuller. A university-run quality assurance programme makes sure that the best practises are followed in each and every stage of the programme. "Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten," avers Fuller.

The best thing for the learners is that there are no fixed semesters. Usually, a group is started with merely 20 people.

Deakin has imparted training on various areas, -- ranging from car shops to submarines. The training is delivered through CDs, video, Internet, satellite or any other suitable mode. The cost that Deakin is offering is also very competitive, mainly because it does not have a fixed infrastructure or campus, and recruits students in small groups.

In India, Deakin is not an unknown entity. The university, for instance, has been running an MBA programme since the last five years, and Deakin has developed relationships with organisations like Tata, IBM, Birla, and Nokia. This is in keeping with its operations in Australia, where it has developed a working relationship with Caltex, BHP, Ansett, Coca-Cola, and IBM. In fact, Deakin organises the entire training and development programme for Ford in Australia. Let's hope that in India, Deakin's training and development programmes benefit the corporate world.

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