CEO Insights Magazine

Hard-earned skills are becoming obsolete at fast paced rates while uncommon skills will soon become commonplace. To eliminate these scenarios, many training organizations have shifted from leveraging traditional methods (presentation, hands on & group building) to framing tailor-made and engaging training modules with captivating content. Insights on this major shift and an extensive experience in the corporate sector triggered Rajiv K. Rajendra (Author & Founder-CEO, Aktrea) to utilize skills and experience in leadership, long-term client relationships and professional training into the establishment of Aktrea in 2009. At the time, Aktrea was one of the few firms using the latest digital technologies and devising gamified learning modules for enrichment of learning accessibility and engagement of people. Instituting the fusion of gamification and learning via its first training game (Bourse Game Market Simulator) in 2010 under the aegis of Rajiv who has personally led over 5000 participants’ in gaming simulation training sessions, the firm has further laid the foundation for a full time Gaming and Simulation Lab in India in 2012.

Later, in 2014, Ajay S. Ramachandran (Head of Technology, Aktrea) with 20 years of experience in designing & creating robust technology platforms joined Aktrea and worked in tandem with Rajiv to redefine the accepted norms of training by building the right culture, identifying and recruiting the right game changers and leveraging their combined creativity and passion for the firm's growth. The following excerpts of an exclusive conversation with Rajiv and Ajay delineate Aktrea's training modules blended with learning, engagement and technology.

How are your business simulations and learning programs designed in accordance with the nuances in technology besides retaining captivating content?
Vesting our belief on learning by experiences rather than the traditional training by an instructor, we design bespoke business simulations for the leaders to compete in a dynamic marketplace with limited resources, comprehend their activities in disparate businesses and self-edify from their successes and failures. Deploying the latest technologies & practices (AI, social networks, design thinking, agile practices and others) into these simulations, we bestow leaders with deep insights and analytics into behaviour, learning patterns and individuals’ timely progress. Besides, our learning modules are enriched with gamified elements (video role play, process flow chart, maze, guess the word, quiz, race to Mars & others) to infuse high levels of interactivity, enhance competitive spirit and elevate the fun factor. Also these modules embrace leader boards to encourage friendly competition among the employees, a feedback system to stay on track with the learning objectives and a social learning platform to exchange ideas. Furthermore, we carve customer content & practices into practical online tools at affordable costs for any customer aspiring to build a learning method infused with excitement and practices.


As socializing and interaction are the prime aspects for better learning among employees, how do you manage to infuse them into your learning modules and also team members?
Learning as a team involves social learning to create knowledgeable &engaged employees and also knowledge sharing to tap their hidden learned concepts. To include

these two features into our learning
modules we devise custom-made social learning platforms wherein each organization's knowledge is organized, categorized and available for learners to access, utilize share ideas, questions and updates and ultimately learn. We are proud of our creative, intelligent and fun-loving team of game changers who transform their intense passion for work,team spirit and interactive nature into enhancing both personal and professional excellence and also setting high standards for them selves and the larger community.

How do you retain a strong customer base and a strong team amidst the adversities and also continue to embrace the same in the upcoming years?
We stand apart from vanilla training organizations since we work as partners rather than just vendors through each customer’s journey. We work closely with leaders such as the CEO and the heads of HR, Sales, Operations and Businesses and design learning programs with high ROI. On the other hand Ajay and my deep intrinsic trust in each other helps us make better decisions and back each other during any issue to our strong team of game changers for them to be fearless and move forward with success. More over, our team is primarily engaged in adapting to the ever-evolving workplace changes for retaining our trust worthy customers and assisting leaders in managing these changes.

Key Management:
Rajiv K. Rajendra,Author&Founder-CEO
Being an author of cricket and business based books and a pioneer in leveraging gaming & simulations for enterprise-training,Rajiv has founded Aktrea to redefine the existing training methods with flavours of latest technology.

AjayS.Ramachandran,HeadofTechnology
Prior experience with Microsoft and two startups building software across small and large organizations, Ajay translates his passion for technology into intelligent solutions for Aktrea.

Offerings:
• Learning & Awareness Games
• AI-based Business Simulations
• Social & Team Learning

Offices:singapore(HQ),Chennai&New York