Policy makers agonise over the fact that Indian hardware is way behind software but that is not so in the case of training.

Jetking has been in the business of producing hardware engineers for over a decade and finds no dearth of takers for its products.

When Aptech and NIIT started training in software in the early 80s, there also arose a need for hardware engineers. Thus germinated the idea of a training institute for hardware professionals and Jetking was started in 1992.

"I believed there would be a growing demand for hardware professionals in the coming years. With one engineer required for every 50 machines, the opportunity was immense," said Suresh G Bharwani, CMD and Mentor, Jetking.

According to MAIT data, over the last 15 years 1990-04, 70 lakh (7 million) computers were sold. Of these 30 lakh ( 3 million) computers were sold in the last one year alone.

This year may see sales of 40 lakh (4 million) computers. This exponential growth in computer sales also demands a similar growth in the personnel with the know-how to keep them running.  

"All these hardware require people to maintain them. That is where producing quality hardware engineers becomes imperative and Jetking can in a small way help bridge the demand-supply gap," believes Bharwani.

Jetking, the biggest trainer of hardware engineers in India, is on a song today. The institute chain with its 75 branches has till today "trained over 1.2 lakh (120,000) hardware engineers", says Bharwani. The institute has 25,000 students on its roles today.

"It is in fact a mini university," adds Bharwani. Most of Jetking's branches, 70 out of 75, have been developed through the franchisee route. It takes Rs 15-30 lakh (1.5-3 million) to start a franchise, depending on the location of the institute.

Jetking revenues, which rose from Rs 32 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 36 crore in 2003-04, are slated to go up to Rs 45 crore in the current year. Net profit, which rose from Rs 2.2 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 2.75 crore in 2003-04, is expected to go up to Rs 3.75 crore in the current year, said a confident Bharwani.

To keeps himself abreast of the latest developments in the field of hardware and HR and to update Jetking's offerings, Bharwani visits the US on an annual 'pilgrimage' to undergo training under Bob Pike, who is known as the trainer's trainer.

A market leader in the hardware training and education segment, Jetking has trained over 1,50,000 students as hardware and network engineers.

Jetking, which has tie-ups with global companies like Microsoft and Novell on date, employs 1,400 people of which 400 are in marketing.

Jetking exclusively designs courses as per the market requirement, also practical experience are provided. Trained engineers from Jetking are picked by lot of BPO companies.

Indian ITES-BPO organisations have now started looking beyond job fulfillment to identify opportunities for delivering high quality service to end-customers. They are aligning internal systems to ensure high customer satisfaction. These steps will serve as the building block for future success.

Currently, the range of end user satisfaction ratings for Indian BPO organizations is 82%-100%.

According to findings of a Nasscom and QAI survey the range of end user satisfaction ratings for Indian BPO organizations is 82% to 100%.