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For many workers, their homes have become their offices and all enterprise applications are now accessed remotely, driving IT companies across India to face up to an unprecedented level of cloud adoption.

Cloud adoption in enterprises has hit new heights during the pandemic as it has become the catalyst for digital transformation. Many organizations have moved towards remote working in response to COVID-19, making the cloud an immediate priority rather than a future project. That’s led to a need for internal reskilling and upskilling of teams. Cloud has enabled IT staff to be frontline supporters as it eliminates the complexities of a hardware-based IT infrastructure.

ComputerWorld takes a look at the cloud skills in demand across India, and how IT/ITes companies are going about reskilling and upskilling the workforce.

Cloud skills in demand
Some businesses are looking for cloud expertise in a narrow field; others want it across the board. We took a small but representative sample of what’s hot at tech companies operating in India.

India’s highest paying tech jobs and the skills that rake in the big bucks
For Sandeep Soni at data protection service provider Clumio, the needs are technical. Soni, the GM and VP of Engineering for the company’s Indian operations based in Bengaluru, says a basic understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in cloud development and serverless applications is the most important skill for a developer these days.

There’s a big difference between database programming for the cloud and on-premises, he says: “Engineers need to have cloud automation skills to build, test, deploy, and manage especially when there are rapid releases. Devops is another important skill that is needed. A good cloud developer needs to enable a smooth running of a software (in the cloud) for operations.”

At business process management specialist Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), CIO Natarajan Radhakrishnan is looking for cloud skills across the board. The company is in the business of helping its customers migrate to the cloud, provide managed services, and also develop cloud-native applications, he says: “For us, the most sought-after cloud skills are sales, migration, application development, and administrative skills.”

Meanwhile, at software consultancy ThoughtWorks, capability development lead Jaydeep Chakrabarty says the latest technology trend becomes the new skill shortage for any organization. Currently, he sees the most in-demand cloud skills as cloud security, serverless architecture such as Google Cloud Platform or AWS, and ML and AI in the cloud.

Automation skills are among those in demand at CSS Corp., according to Phanikishore Burre, SVP and delivery head for network, cloud, infrastructure and security services. He sees a need for cloud skills in a number of roles, including administrator, devops, and security. Hands-on experience on Linux and Windows is important, he says, as are coding chops in Python, knowledge of automation platforms such as Ansible or Jenkins, and familiarity with Kubernetes and other container technologies, databases, and serverless and multi-cloud computing.

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Company honoured with two Stevies for Most Exemplary Employer and Most Valuable Corporate Response Bangalore, Karnataka, India – Business Wire India CSS Corp, a new-age IT services and technology support company, today announced that it has won two Silver Stevie® awards at The 17th Annual International Business Awards®.

The company was recognized in two COVID-19 response categories- Most Exemplary Employer and Most Valuable Corporate Response of the year. The company received these awards for its strong people focus that upheld employee satisfaction while enabling business continuity and progress during these unprecedented times.CSS Corp showcased resilience, determination, and fortitude, being one of the first movers in the industry to transition to a 100% productive work from home model at the onset of the lockdown.

The company’s proprietary resilience framework – takes a three-pronged approach, which emphasizes on preparedness, stabilization and embracing the new normal. Despite the challenges posed by the situation, CSS Corp mitigated the challenges and rolled out annual increments, variable pay and promotions for its workforce in 2020.

CSS Corp’s employee-first culture is built on empowering its employees and boosting their morale and productivity, while constantly ensuring that they are safe and secure, amidst growing uncertainty.

The company’s industry-acclaimed CHEER framework devised specifically for the current scenario, placed emphasis on communication, recognition, and engagement as the pillars to support, strengthen and safeguard employees.

“CSS Corp has always been committed to its people on its journey towards setting new industry benchmarks. While the world was facing an unforeseen pandemic, we made it our mission to ensure that our employees are taken care of. With that in mind, the initiatives and policies devised with specific emphasis on navigating through the current scenario, further strengthened our people focus and fostered growth within. We are proud to be recipients of the Stevie Awards, as a reflection of the satisfaction and hope that we are striving to drive for our employees,” said Manish Tandon, Chief Executive Officer, CSS Corp.

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We are now more than six months into the pandemic- a never-before-seen situation for organizations worldwide. With an atomized workforce, every company has been tested on how they react to these stressful circumstances.
As the most influential model of motivation, Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs dissects the fundamental needs of humans – basic, psychological, and self-fulfillment needs. Employees’ needs are indeed a microcosmic reflection of this model and are vital to track their growth and development.

Maslow’s Hierarchy and Employee Engagement

Organizations can apply the psychoanalytic dimension of this model for employee engagement and effectively address their needs. Fair compensations meet their physiological and safety needs. Employee recognitions and rewards make them feel valued and appreciated thereby addressing their esteem needs. Thereby, making employees feel motivated to reach their true potential, thus carving a path for their self-actualization needs. It is a known fact that appreciation and motivation come hand in hand. Whether it is the plaudits an artist receives from the audience or a standing ovation after a batsman hits his century, the recognition received is unmatched even by loads of money

COVID-19: Putting theory into practice

We are now more than six months into the pandemic- a never-before-seen situation for organizations worldwide. With an atomized workforce, every company has been tested on how they react to these stressful circumstances.

Employee focus and engagement in uncertain times like these are coming across as one of the most common challenges.

When the different stages of Maslow’s hierarchy are not addressed, people are likely to suffer from mental health issues, affecting their overall well-being. This can gradually result into low employee engagement levels, morale, and productivity.

Understand the situation

The nature of the pandemic, its spread and health impacts coupled with isolated working have impinged upon the psyche of the employees with multifarious emotions viz. anxiety, uncertainty, fear, overwhelm, and pessimism. Thereby, shifting organizational focus to down a level or two on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Currently, employees are increasingly getting more motivated by the bottom three levels:

Physiological (food, water, sleep, clothing, shelter)
Safety and security (personal, emotional, financial, health)
Belonging (friends, relationships, family).
As such, organizations need to demonstrate dynamic cognition of the situation and innovate new ways of engaging with employees, ensuring a positive flow of energy and increased levels of recognition.

Many employee-centric companies have put on hold on-going initiatives, and reprioritized employee safety as a paramount requirement. The implementation of a work from anywhere policy is part of this employee-safety-first approach. For those companies where remote working was not fully feasible, employers ensured special efforts towards increased workspace separation and sanitation, social distancing, spacing work on manufacturing floors, and staggered shifts.

Many organizations like Amazon, Facebook, Walmart, Reliance, PepsiCo, and Paytm have also been taking care of employee compensations, organizing elaborate learning and development programs, and monitoring the mental well-being of their employees. PepsiCo has also pledged to pay full salaries to quarantined employees. Walmart has been hiring aggressively and paying extra bonuses to its employees for going above and beyond the call of duty in serving its customers during these challenging times. Facebook has also rewarded its employees with $1,000 bonuses to support their families in adapting during the crisis.

Mental wellness of employees is one of the most critical HR challenges in this health and economic crisis. ITC Hotels Group is treating mental wellness as its top priority. In this pursuit, each HR manager calls at least 10 employees daily to check upon their and family’s health and safety.

Organizations have had to rethink town halls and transform them into 100% virtual yet engaging sessions. Using collaboration platforms like Zoom, WebEx, Microsoft Teams, HR teams have been bringing the whole organization together in a virtual environment where leaders can share their thoughts and financial results with employees, address many hard-hitting questions from employees and reward top performers. Also, to address the fun and engagement facet of workforce management, HRs are now organizing multiple health and wellness webinars, virtual games, yoga sessions and virtual celebrations on special occasions and festivals.

All these employee-centric steps help companies to achieve their objective of keeping employees feel valued, appreciated, motivated, and cared for.

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According to the Contact Center Satisfaction Index 2019 from CFI Group, a market research firm, customer satisfaction with contact centers has been on the decline in the past few years. With the COVID-19 outbreak, this trend took a sharper slide.

Let’s face it: Many contact centers, including those with well-prepared disaster recovery plans, were caught unprepared in the face of this global humanitarian and economic crisis. Many of them are still scrambling to tackle an unprecedented spike in overall call volume (particularly in health care, government, and financial services), as well as manage staffing resources and the huge transition to the work-from-home environment.

Weaknesses Revealed

When the coronavirus outbreak hit us, chaos loomed everywhere. Movement patterns of customers had flipped, and workforces got atomized. As they should, safety and reliability became the top priorities for businesses and customers alike.
As customer behavior moved from physical interactions to digital transactions, businesses came under enormous pressure to continue delivering customer services, with quality and compassion. As the customer demands soared in the contactless business environment, businesses found themselves short of capacity and unable to address the emerging needs and consumption patterns. Many businesses pivoted and retooled to adapt to this society-wide shift. But as the outbreak has intensified, and with online buying at an all-time high, logistical delays and related issues have again led to exceedingly high call volumes.

While customers were initially patient and understanding, they’re now realizing this is the new normal, and many believe, understandably, that customer service organizations should have this figured out by now. Faced with long wait times, being routed from one channel/agent to another, having to repeat themselves, and, worst of all, not getting their problems resolved, customers are no longer finding the situation acceptable. They have started hitting their breaking points and increasingly bidding a not-so-fond farewell to companies.

The contact center industry has been facing one of the greatest challenges in its history—a sharp need to augment its ability to serve COVID-19-related customer queries and emerge stronger in the aftermath. As businesses formulated and implemented short-term crisis management plans, some smart companies had their call centers respond by adopting forward-looking reallocation measures.

While some companies have succeeded in re-evaluating their contact center strategies, capabilities, and channel mix (live chat, voice channels, etc.) to support the heavier volumes, deliver quality customer experiences, and gain a competitive edge by earning customer trust, others still seem to be struggling to adapt.

Since customers understand that normality is not likely to be restored anytime soon, they are pinning their hopes on companies adapting to the crisis now, and may not be in a forgiving mood. For instance, Amazon shoppers have quickly lost tolerance for delays and damaged or lost items, and are posting negative reviews to a degree never seen before. We’re all too familiar with what a spate of bad reviews can do to organizations, with or without a pandemic.

It’s a no-brainer that a good customer experience during the crisis will create a positive brand perception and customer loyalty post-crisis. Conversely, ill-prepared, ineffective, or uncaring responses are likely to trigger an equally pronounced negative reaction, which may lead to permanent loss of customers sooner than most companies realize.

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CSS Corp, a new-age IT services and technology support company, today announced that its CEO, Manish Tandon, has won a Gold Stevie® in The 17th Annual International Business Awards®. Manish was honoured in the category of ‘Executive of the Year- Computer Services’ as an acknowledgement towards the stellar leadership, impactful Covid-19 response and strong growth achieved under his direction and guidance at CSS Corp.

Organizations are striving to navigate through the new normal in these unprecedented times. Amidst the uncertainty, CSS Corp, under Manish Tandon’s leadership at the helm, has reflected consistent growth and progress for the employees and the organization at large. His technology-led differentiation approach has expedited innovation and digital transformation in the company, with a continued focus on the people front. Tandon’s people-first approach was at the fore when CSS Corp announced salary hikes, variable pay and promotions in April 2020, when the impact of the pandemic was at its highest. Under his leadership, the company has been growing its revenue at a steady double-digit growth rate and is among the few IT services organizations to accelerate its growth post the pandemic.

“It is indeed an honour to be a recipient of the prestigious Stevie Award. This has been possible because of the passion and tireless efforts of the entire CSS Corp family and their indefatigable spirit to conquer and excel against all odds. I am proud of the resilience that the company has shown and accept this award on behalf of the global CSS Corp family,” said Manish Tandon, Chief Executive Officer, CSS Corp.

More than 3,800 nominations from 63 nations, across organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry, were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories. Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 250 executives worldwide.

About CSS Corp

CSS Corp is a new-age IT services and technology support company that harnesses the power of AI, automation, analytics, cloud, and digital to address customer needs. The company partners with leading enterprises to help realize their strategic business outcomes. Its team of 7,500+ technology professionals across 18 global locations is passionate about helping customers differentiate and succeed. For more information, please visit www.csscorp.com

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Engineer’s Day is celebrated in India to honour and pay tribute to the greatest Engineer and Bharat Ratna Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. Today, as we celebrate another year of acknowledgement and pride for the achievements brought in by the engineering community, this is what the leaders across industry vertices have to say about the engineers and the innovation in line.
Sunil Mittal, EVP at CSS Corp -“We are at the cusp of the fourth industrial revolution which is characterised by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological. Technology is the catalyst in transforming and accelerating progress across every sphere. Engineers are making an impact with their cutting-edge abilities, integrating data platforms, software tools, and digital infrastructure to accomplish results seamlessly and with ease. There is an inherent need for today’s engineers to break out of the mould of being proficient in niche skills, to rapidly move towards design thinking, learning, unlearning and relearning, and being adept in technical skills that transcend boundaries. While we are in the here and now, engineers of the future should endeavour to navigate through this dynamic technology ecosystem and future proof their skills to be attuned and equipped to take on any challenges and construct what the next revolution will hold.”

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