[Exclusive Interview] 18,000+ Experts Are Empowering Asia's Largest 1:1 Coaching, Personalized Training Platform

Recently, we interacted with Deepshikha Kumar, Founder, and CEO, SpeakIn – Asia’s largest digital platform for 1:1 coaching, personalised group learning sessions and learning content, backed by over 18000+ experts.

Here are the interview highlights:

What is the role of EdTech platforms in transforming the learning and development strategies for businesses?

Educational technology (EdTech) plays a transformative role in the learning and development (L&D) strategies of businesses, expanding the boundaries of traditional learning methods. EdTech catapults L&D beyond physical limitations and on-site delivery, ushering in flexible learning through SaaS-based tools. This innovation has democratized access to learning, empowering corporate executives with a direct route to knowledge and upskilling. Learners are no longer dependent on a single expert but can now access customized guidance from seasoned industry professionals. This focused instruction, tightly aligned with an organization’s unique business objectives, proves invaluable to Chief Learning Officers (CLOs). To put it briefly, EdTech is revolutionizing L&D for business professionals, introducing unprecedented freedom and growth opportunities.

What is the importance of expertise and quality in the online learning experience?

In the realm of online learning, the value of expertise and high-quality instruction is paramount. I firmly believe that learning from successful individuals holds the key to unlocking the true potential of business professionals. If my ambition is to become a top-level executive, I would prefer to learn from an ex-CEO who can guide me to achieve and sustain that position. Likewise, as an emerging entrepreneur, I wish to learn from someone who has built their own business from the ground up. This is more than traditional classroom lectures, as it offers practical insights drawn from real-life experiences.

For instance, our SpeakIn GROW platform delivers personalized training via an easily accessible platform, facilitating immersive learning experiences. Forward-thinking EdTech companies ensure that learning experiences are tailored to meet individual learners’ specific needs and goals. By emphasizing expertise and quality in the online journey, we allow learners to gain targeted and impactful training that propels their professional growth.

Why is it important to empower employees through personalized learning? How will it help to bring innovations within the organization?

Empowering employees through personalized learning is critical for a multitude of reasons. Primarily, it allows professional learners to enhance their performance. Personalized coaching and support enable employees to take charge of their work, set objectives, monitor their progress, and hold themselves accountable. This sense of responsibility not only elevates their skills and competencies but also enhances their engagement with their work.

Moreover, personalized learning cultivates an environment that encourages risk-taking and exploration, crucial elements for fostering innovation within an organization. Personalized guidance equips employees to face business challenges and changes with adaptability.

Chief Learning Officers (CLOs) can utilize intuitive EdTech tools to pinpoint areas of improvement for key performers in the organization and offer focused upskilling opportunities. This tailored approach ensures that learners study at the appropriate level to achieve their desired outcomes, helping them to become the most effective version of themselves as executive learners.

In summary, personalized learning boosts performance and engagement, and also facilitates employee contribution to the organization’s innovation and growth. It serves as a potent tool for empowering individuals and driving significant change within the workplace.

What is the future of blended learning and its impact on corporate training in a post-pandemic world?

The future of corporate training lies in blended learning, a powerful combination of online and offline instruction. This hybrid model offers executives the tools and opportunities they need to adapt to an ever-changing post-pandemic workplace. Two significant trends have recently converged: the swift pace of digitalization within organizations and the disruptive influence of the pandemic, which has necessitated new upskilling initiatives to ensure business resilience.

The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2025, 85 million jobs could be at risk due to automation. However, it also anticipates a demand for 97 million new jobs arising from increased technological adoption and the creation of new products and services. Corporate executives will need to enhance their skills significantly to seize these opportunities and tackle business challenges effectively.

Blended learning provides a solution, transcending time and distance constraints. Executives can engage in a learning environment that integrates online and offline elements, facilitating efficient and effective skill upgrade. This flexibility allows executives to learn at their own pace and participate in interactive, collaborative activities that enable the practical application of knowledge.

In conclusion, the future of corporate training is inextricably tied to blended learning. By removing the barriers of time and distance, blended learning empowers executives to develop the necessary skills to thrive in a fast-evolving business landscape. Embracing blended learning will ensure that organizations’ workforces stay adaptable and ready to seize emerging opportunities in the post-pandemic world.

How can global collaboration and cross-industry networking opportunities be created through B2B EdTech platforms?

B2B EdTech platforms have the potential to foster global collaboration and cross-industry networking opportunities, transcending traditional boundaries. Collaboration is inherent to EdTech and represents one of its fundamental advantages. To quote Helen Keller, “Alone we can do so little, together so much.” The impact of global collaborations in fully harnessing the potential of EdTech is immense. Businesses that encourage collaboration and proactively seek networking opportunities position themselves to become industry leaders. By leveraging B2B EdTech platforms, organizations can access a vast reservoir of resources, knowledge, and expertise from diverse industries and regions. This fosters innovation, drives growth, and keeps them ahead in an increasingly interconnected and globalized world.

What lessons can be learned from SpeakIn’s expansive growth in EdTech entrepreneurship?

Take the shortcut! World today is controlled, led and driven by 0.3% of people who have broken shackles, defied logic and challenged everything single status quo to improvise or build things which never existed. SpeakIn is all about opening this 0.3% to the rest of the world to learn what it takes to progress, change, drive, lead and deliver. Learning from achievers – this is SpeakIn.

If I want to be a CEO, I learn at SpeakIn from a 4 times CEO who understands what it takes to reach there and stay! If I want to be a surgeon, I can learn at SpeakIn from the topmost surgeon in this country with 77000 surgeries under his belt. If I want to be an entrepreneur, SpeakIn gives me 1-on-1 access to a serial entrepreneur who has sold a 100 mn$ company, not once, twice over! SpeakIn is ready to fuel human aspirations like we have never seen.

With over 18000 established CEOs, Entrepreneurs, Subject Matter Experts, Academicians and more, SpeakIn’s growth has been extraordinary. Moving from a services model to a product model, with the launch of the SpeakIn SAAS platform GROW the practitioner led learning experience can now be provided at scale both as 1:1 Coaching experience as well as in a group learning format. While, we have launched the B2C beta version, B2B continues to be our sweet spot, providing learning to enterprises with a minimum of 5000 employees. SpeakIn currently provides platform based 1:1 Coaching and On-Demand learning to over 400 enterprise clients including Accenture, TCS, Samsung, Canon, Amazon, HDFC, DBS and more.

The problem statement is impacting not just a company, but the complete economic ecosystem. Employee LOYALTY at its lowest, WFH is least engaging, job roles are rapidly CHANGING. To keep up with the changing workforce, Chiefs of HR and Learning are looking for high-impact ways to UPSKILL their employees to keep pace with workforce changes – a quick, actionable learning platform like SpeakIn is the PERFECT solution to ensure organizations survive and thrive. As per FE, “A record 83% of Indian professionals intend to upskill in 2023. As the global markets shift from great resignation to burdensome termination, there is an urgency to keep up with changing job roles”. According to research, 85% of the jobs in 2030 haven’t even been invented yet. Many of them will require skills with no documented training. How will then put academic training get organizations ready for customer and market needs?

Headquartered in Singapore, we are dedicated to harness the massive economic growth and subsequent business demands in India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Our focus will be to stabilise our APAC operations for GROW, the SAAS platform, for this year and then expand to EMEA. Our on-demand services will available in 29 countries by March 24 including United States, China, Isreal, Dubai and more. No where in this world aspirations will be limited by where you are right now!