The current economic downturn has placed the IT, ITES and other knowledge-based sectors under serious pressure with respect to manpower costs. In the long run, all possible solutions like reducing hiring costs, achieving viable salary structure, avoiding of losses caused by replacement of inappropriate selections or mismatched project team formations, will have to be minimized to the lowest levels if competency has to be sustained.

The logistics and time involved in forming, inviting and testing the prospective candidates in cities, to a large extent, converged the selection process to a smaller domain of talents available around the hubs. This has resulted in serious implications on salary structure, employee turnover rate and in fact on every desirable term of selection and employment criteria.

Apart from the problem of distance, the process of testing at physically proctored test centers in cities bring in huge real estate costs and capacity limitations. Investment and operating costs of these centers gets passed on to increase selection costs, limits flexibility and the test frequency.

Internet based screening of candidates through rigorous test papers has provided a great solution, for quick short-listing, at low cost without involving logistics and time lapse. This method has been in use for some time. However, due to control over use of unfair means and identity to the test-maker, its reliability has been a big issue.

A platform, which can allow monitored, testing mechanism, giving flexibility of time and location, without requiring physical presence of proctors has been missing all along. The products, such as cyber proctor along with the Ktester has rendered a very powerful tools in the hands of organizations. This would enable them include cyber-proctored exam making simulation of real exam a reality.

Some of the advantages of e-assessment that you might want to consider are:
1. immediate feedback to students, 2. allows rehearsal and revision, 3. immediate feedback to staff, 4. allows evaluation of a course's strengths and weaknesses, 5. can be linked to other computer-based or online materials.

Kumar Ramabhadran – Managing Director of Syxle Systems Private Limited (www.syxle.com) , a fast growing education software company