The Hindu Business Line : Kronos India eyes growth in services sector

Bangalore, July 15 Global workforce solutions company Kronos Inc, which launched its Indian operations in May this year, is looking at the retail, manufacturing and healthcare sectors for growth. “India is at a cusp of a major development cycle and in the last two months we have seen these sectors facing severe challenges in scheduling and its impact on product costing,” Mr James Thomas, Managing Director, Kronos India said.

Apart from locally supporting its global clients that are expanding operations in India, Kronos would approach customer-driven organisations in the retail, manufacturing and healthcare sectors for its products. Its services include alerting organisations on training requirements for employees, tracking labour, improving overall workforce visibility, scheduling them appropriately, mapping their activities and connecting scheduling to the budgeting and forecasting of workforce needs.

Mr Thomas said most retail organisations in the country today follow manual scheduling, which is error-prone and a strain on both store productivity and customer service. A workforce management solution would increase sales conversion rates, he said.

Globally, workforce management is a $578-million business, with workforce effectiveness being most advanced in Australia in the APAC region, he said. In India, though there are no firm statistics available, it is estimated that workforce management comprises about 25 per cent of human capital management, which is a Rs 200-crore market today.