Learning Launch - Making IT Company Resources Productive (Improve Overall Utilization)

Challenge

I work for a leading IT service provider, first time in many years, we are experiencing a negative growth  in-terms of topline (it is Industry-wide scenario across all IT-service companies) as a result of budgetary  cuts from customer side. Ultimately causing ramp-downs. Which is resulting into increase of non-billable  staff i.e. impacting overall utilization rate & reducing revenue per employee. Idea here is how to  leverage bench & make them billable.

Why Learning Launch

To improve the issue of overall utilization, I feel Learning Launch is the best tool that fits here. As  explained in the course “Learning launch is an experiment conducted in the marketplace quickly &  inexpensively. It forms a bridge between customer co-creation & commercial rollout”

Since the issue involves dealing with actual people & and with old bench-management techniques not  giving desired results, it was thought of trying something new that too on the ground, rather than  creating another version of PowerPoint.

This tool enabled us an opportunity as to learn as to why certain resources remained unproductive,  while others became productive.

Application

Existing bench-management, was purely system based, resources who were released from IT Projects,  remained on bench-totally unproductive, also they had to await for project managers to find them on  System & check for their fitment, before they are on-boarded into the project.

Existing resource management system has lot of flaws, as all skills were not visible to Project Managers,  hence which in-turn made difficult for them identify relevant bench resources, rather they had to rely on  memory or referrals.

While modifying IT systems was a long-term solution, immediate requirement was to how to make  those people productive & get them onto projects. We thought of arranging bench fairs, wherein all  PMs who-ever had requirements for resource came to a room & based on their requirements, we would  enable each candidates to meet them & discuss, this approach provided PMs with lot of insights about  candidates & gave them better opportunity to assess their fitment. Ultimately their requirements were  met. Candidates in-turn got feedback as to what they required to became productive i.e. trainings they  should attend and how to cross/up-skill themselves.

This approach solved 10% of the problem, whereby of ~80+ employees on bench who attended bench  fair, about 8 to 10 resources were absorbed by Projects. Though still 70+ resources remained on bench it  was seen they started enrolling for trainings to up-skill/cross-skill themselves, ultimately increasing their  further chances of getting projects & become billable.

Insights

Bench of IT companies is considered as a Taboo i.e. resources which are not good only land-up on  bench. While at the same-time it was important for us to see why resources were not getting picked-up  & becoming billable. Learning launch provided me with an opportunity of directly going to Project  Managers & collecting their feedback on candidates through a Benchfair. This also gave an opportunity  to candidates to their assessments done, which will give them a fair view of where they stand.

Next Steps

Though learning launch gave me good insights & help me solve some part of the problem. This approach  was so-much liked by others, that such Bench-fairs started getting organized at all locations wherever  bench was present. However there is another tool i.e. Customer Co-creation which I would want to  leverage next time esp. for rebuilding the Resource Management Platform, whereby It can help the  company to better manage unproductive resources. Typically majority of the products are created in  insolation, ultimately resulting into less use, since the end-users do not find value in them, hence it’s  always advantageous to involve different stake-holders at design-phase itself.


Learning Launch - Making IT Company Resources Productive ( Improve Overall Utilization ) Challenge I work for a leading IT service provider , first time in many years , we are experiencing a negative growth in - terms of topline ( it is Industry - wide scenario across all IT - service companies ) as a result of budgetary cuts from customer side . Ultimately causing ramp - downs . Which is resulting into increase of non - billable staff i.e. impacting overall utilization rate & reducing revenue per employee . Idea here is how to leverage bench & make them billable . Why Learning Launch To improve the issue of overall utilization , I feel Learning Launch is the best tool that fits here . As explained in the course “ Learning launch is an experiment conducted in the marketplace quickly & inexpensively . It forms a bridge between customer co - creation & commercial rollout ” Since the issue involves dealing with actual people & and with old bench - management techniques not giving desired results , it was thought of trying something new that too on the ground , rather than creating another version of PowerPoint . This tool enabled us an opportunity as to learn as to why certain resources remained unproductive , while others became productive . Application Existing bench - management , was purely system based , resources who were released from IT Projects , remained on bench - totally unproductive , also they had to await for project managers to find them on System & check for their fitment , before they are on - boarded into the project . Existing resource management system has lot of flaws , as all skills were not visible to Project Managers , hence which in - turn made difficult for them identify relevant bench resources , rather they had to rely on memory or referrals . While modifying IT systems was a long - term solution , immediate requirement was to how to make those people productive & get them onto projects . We thought of arranging bench fairs , wherein all PMs who - ever had requirements for resource came to a room & based on their requirements , we would enable each candidates to meet them & discuss , this approach provided PMs with lot of insights about candidates & gave them better opportunity to assess their fitment . Ultimately their requirements were met . Candidates in - turn got feedback as to what they required to became productive i.e. trainings they should attend and how to cross / up - skill themselves . This approach solved 10 % of the problem , whereby of ~80 + employees on bench who attended bench fair , about 8 to 10 resources were absorbed by Projects . Though still 70 + resources remained on bench it was seen they started enrolling for trainings to up - skill / cross - skill themselves , ultimately increasing their further chances of getting projects & become billable . Insights Bench of IT companies is considered as a Taboo i.e. resources which are not good only land - up on bench . While at the same - time it was important for us to see why resources were not getting picked - up & becoming billable . Learning launch provided me with an opportunity of directly going to Project Managers & collecting their feedback on candidates through a Benchfair . This also gave an opportunity to candidates to their assessments done , which will give them a fair view of where they stand . Next Steps Though learning launch gave me good insights & help me solve some part of the problem . This approach was so - much liked by others , that such Bench - fairs started getting organized at all locations wherever bench was present . However there is another tool i.e. Customer Co - creation which I would want to leverage next time esp . for rebuilding the Resource Management Platform , whereby It can help the company to better manage unproductive resources . Typically majority of the products are created in insolation , ultimately resulting into less use , since the end - users do not find value in them , hence it ’s always advantageous to involve different stake - holders at design - phase itself .