Special Supplement: Neusoft: Ready for a golden software future

China's leading outsourcing company, Neusoft has introduced new training system in an effort to win the new round of global competition.

"The key to our achievements lies in our consistent efforts in developing the ability of both staff members and the leadership, leveraging our core competence in the areas of technologies, products and services, as well as improving customer satisfaction," Liu Jiren, chairman & CEO of the Neusoft Group, said.

The SOVO (Students Office, Venture Office) is an example. After class, students come here to run their virtual companies. They take positions such as CEOs, CFOs and CTOs and have meetings to discuss or debate their companies' strategies.

They organize and run their companies as real enterprises, with marketing, research, development and finance departments.

The centers have become starting points for many students setting up their own undertakings.

Developed countries have been shifting their software and information service industry in recent years to developing countries with a supply of high-quality and low-cost IT professionals.

"A software company must have strategic vision to survive and grow amid intense global competition. And we have followed these principles faithfully over the past years."

In order to seize this golden opportunity and tackle the challenges it poses, the Neusoft leadership realizes that a plentiful and high-quality reserve of IT human resources will be a key factor.

Founded in 1991, the Neusoft Group Ltd has become China's leading software and solution provider, with software & services, medical systems, and IT education & training its main business areas.

With a view to win the new round of global competition, the Neusoft Group has continued its efforts to combine production, education and research in the IT and software industry.

The group has so far set up three IT colleges in Dalian (Liaoning Province), Nanhai (Guangdong Province ) and Chengdu (Sichuan Province) where more than 20,000 students are currently receiving training.

In these colleges, students learn the most advanced IT technologies in laboratories set up by the world's leading multinationals.

They also have the chance to create their own virtual companies in the innovative undertaking centers that imitate the real business environment with the help of the colleges.

To cultivate competent IT talents capable of rendering stellar performances right after they join the workforce, the colleges provide students in their final two years of study with training courses run by their future employers (mostly major multinationals).

Those achieving outstanding results in these training courses are then recruited directly by the companies.

The combination of production, education and research has achieved remarkable results and received widespread approval from IT enterprises.

On the one hand, the IT educational institutions can obtain up-to-date teaching material from enterprises and better prepare their students for their future careers, while on the other, IT enterprises can recruit college graduates with considerable professional experience and save the cost and time of training new employees.

Also, by establishing laboratories and research centers in colleges, enterprises become the incubators of college-level research.

Bearing in mind that globalization of the software industry has resulted in a trend of sharing human resources worldwide, the leaders of the Neusoft Group have formulated an ambitious plan for training students with the help of international partners.

In June 2006, the group created a joint program with international software giant SAP for training software professionals. The Neusoft-SAP Top Talents Cultivation Program, which began in September 2006, will recruit 1,000 students from the Dalian-based Neusoft Institute of Information every year to take courses provided by SAP.

During their studies, the students will learn and practice the SAP-ERP System as well as fundamental theories. This will help them be ready to operate the system right after graduating from the program.

Under the program, more than 4,000 students from the Neusoft Institute of Information will have received SAP's systematic professional training by 2009.

This harmonious human resources cooperation system will bring win-win benefits for both sides, Liu said.

Through the educational program, SAP can have access to a large pool of software professionals while Neusoft is able to explore better career prospects for students of its IT colleges.

As human resource expenses take up an increasing portion of modern companies' operational costs, the Neusoft Group has attached great importance to building trust within the enterprises.

Realizing that the diversified cultural makeup of a multinational poses a great challenge for human resources management, the group leaders define the group's human resources principle as being "human-oriented" and aimed at achieving "common development of both the enterprise and individuals."

Last year, the Neusoft Group was the only software enterprise to receive the award of "CCTV Best Employer 2006."

"The development of its staff members is the basis of the company's overall development strategy," said Li Yinhao, the group's president assistant and director of the human resources department.

"The company hopes to provide a broad stage for the development of every employee."

Neusoft provides many sports facilities such as tennis courts, soccer fields, gyms and clubs that are accessible to every worker, as the company believes that physical exercise helps employees build up sufficient energy and spirit for quality work.

Also, a plan allowing employees to hold the company's shares has helped many lower-level workers receive greater rewards from the group's growth while they grow individually as well, Li noted.

In addition, the group invests more than 10 million yuan ($1.33 million) annually in training its employees in fields such as technology, management, business and foreign languages.

Neusoft has also set up a tutorial system within the company to provide new employees with instructions and advice on techniques, career and everyday life. In this way, they can acquire independent work abilities within a short period of time and receive encouragement for the same.

Workers at Neusoft Group enjoy direct means of communication. Staff members can communicate with each other in a variety of ways, such as case sharing, outward bound training, heart-to-heart dialogue and company weeklypublication.

Headquartered in Dalian, the Neusoft Group has set up branches in China, and overseas branches in the United States and Japan, with more than 10,000 employees and a registered capital of 1.244 billion yuan ($164 million).

The group has so far fully demonstrated its cutting-edge technology as well as professional understanding of businesses in IT industries, Liu said.

It has also developed large-size medical equipment systems, network security products, auto electronics and mobile communication facilities software by integrating software into medical, security and communication applications.

"We will continue to improve our learning and HR development platform through our education and training operations," added Liu.

(China Daily 09/07/2007 page38)