FCS launches IMPAKT, an LMS adapted especially for India

Date: March 09, 2004

Borrowing from its wider experiences in the US market, Noida-based FCS Software Solutions Ltd has launched IMPAKT, a trendsetting learning management system (LMS) in India. The product, adapted to the unique needs of the Indian corporate world, would change the way Indian companies manage and grow their human capital.

According to Mr Dalip Kumar, MD of FCS Software Solutions Ltd: "Today, more and more Indian organizations are recognizing that their people are the key to their success. Companies are formulating business strategies to accelerate organizational performance by aligning, developing and managing their people."

IMPAKT is an essential component of this business strategy to help enhance knowledge and build skills of people across the organization including interfaces like employees, customers, partners and suppliers. A recent study in US found that 75% of organizations believe knowledge management significantly increases competitive advantage.

According to Mr Vineet Narang, VP - Strategic Planning and Business Development at FCS: "It is becoming imperative for Indian companies to gear up to face global competition and some of the large companies are ready to accept the challenge."

This was substantiated by a marketing survey, conducted by FCS in NCR to gauge the needs of the Indian corporate world. It found about 37 per cent of the surveyed companies keen to invest in an LMS over the next 2-3 years. The survey also revealed many other encouraging aspects, such as the interest of Indian companies to deploy a web-based LMS for realizing a universal access.

LMS enables organizations to customize the training needs of employees and steer them towards better understanding of processes, technology, compliance issues, product knowledge and performance parameters. It facilitates a rapid sharing of knowledge, ideas, experiences, streamlined document distribution, and improved knowledge management.

FCS has been helping the US companies attain these goals with the aid of its feature-packed LMS. Says Mr Narang: "Our US clients have strategically used our LMS to cut down on extra cost and realize an increased return on investment. The version that we have launched in the Indian market borrows from the successful LMS implementations done for our US clients."

FCS used insights from its marketing survey to adapt the product to the unique Indian needs. This knowledge spawned features, such as integration of employee address book with the new learning system, capability to track employee progress and measure success, ability to use the existing email infrastructure for all mail-based communications, an integrated performance appraisal and management system for HR managers, which would also help in individual skill-gap analysis, resource planning and identifying employees with specific set of skills for specific set of trainings, and tools like instant survey to gauge the participant involvement.

Targeted at the sunrise sectors like office automation, insurance, telecommunication, FMCG and pharmaceuticals in the country, IMPAKT is a global, scalable, web-based application that enables organizations to manage all aspects of learning and professional growth. It delivers robust capabilities in the areas of performance management, competency management, regulatory compliance, student registration and tracking, records management, facilities and curricula management, and reporting.

The application provides unparalleled levels of support for self-paced, live, interactive and instructor-led courses. FCS is aiming for at least five LMS deployment opportunities in India by March 31, 2005.

IMPAKT will make it easy and affordable to create, deliver and measure interactive learning over the Internet and intranets. It will empower Indian companies to skip the learning phase and implement a sophisticated, robust and a well-established system.