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 . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: 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 .
### Output: 