TechBooks to expand offshore capacity

Shipra Arora / New Delhi

TechBooks, the US-based publishing technology solutions provider, is planning to expand its offshore operations in India. This includes the setting up of a development centre here. Investments to the tune of $10 million have been laid out for the expansion of offshore capacity with an eye on outsourcing more work to India. The company will be further broadbasing its service portfolio and entering new vertical markets as part of its future growth strategy. The new service lines include e-learning, apart from new service additions under the content IT-enabled services umbrella. In terms of new market segments, TechBooks is eyeing the healthcare and pharmaceutical verticals considering the proliferation of content in these segments.

Ranjit Singh

The new development centre for the company will be set up by the fourth quarter of the current year or the first quarter of next year. Ranjit Singh, CEO of TechBooks, said that while all the company’s three existing centres, housing around 1,800 people, are based in Delhi, this time around the company is looking for a different geographical location for its new centre. He however confirmed that the centre would be located in India itself adding, “India will continue to be the place where we look at for our resources.” All the back-end operations are outsourced to these offshore centres.

The company will be entering into marketing and development partnerships to offer joint services. The services will include content re-purposing, course work creation, assessment, Flash and animation, instructional design and learning management systems (LMS). This will include taking content and presenting it through interactive learning on CDs and Web-enabling modules. The applications the company is targeting are school education, product launches and also using e-learning as sales and marketing tools. “Though small presently, e-learning is a growing market segment as more and more schools in the US are beginning to ask for e-learning modules,” said Singh.

Solutions provided by TechBooks can be applied to any media—print, online and wireless. The company outsources the entire value chain of content—from content development, design, layout and delivery of content—through its offshore business model. The company has its primary focus on the publishing industry with the majority of its business coming from the US market, followed by Europe.