Simplilearn trains its sights on boot camps

Indian edtech major gears up to compete with global majors in the space

- ANJULI BHARGAVA

Companies spend millions and even billions of dollars building brands. Vuitton not only spends money like water, but plenty of sweat and tears also go into ensuring high consumer recall. This often makes or breaks businesses.

How, then, did a relatively unknown Indian brand such as Bengaluru-headquartered Simplilearn get learners in geographies where it is practically unknown without spending billions on brand building? The simple answer is the strategy that the two founders, Krishna Kumar and Kashyap Dalal, followed more recently: piggy-backing on mighty brand names in their own right. So, the company's digital boot camps its bread and butter-are on offer and being lapped up by learners at premier institutions in the US like MIT, Caltech, Purdue and Wharton, and a bunch of companies including IBM, Microsoft in the corporate space to overcome the brand hurdle.

In India, too, the company is partnering with equally well-known universities that include the IITs.

"The technology team, product, and admission counsellors are all based in India but the programmes are being offered in the US so this works out to be quite cost effective," explains Kumar, one of the founders of Simplilearn. By partnering with the "biggies" in the business, Simplilearn has been able to pretty successfully overcome the biggest challenge in growing its boot camps in the US.

Many in the edtech sector argue that Indian companies with their global ambitions and footprint are often better placed than some of the bigger American names who are in the same space but operate mainly through e-learning without instructors and problem-solving assistance.

While the instructor-led courses may cost the learner more than recorded videos and lectures, many feel these provide far better learning and outcomes in the job market.