The Cloud Training & Development Guide for IT Solution Providers

Build your training practices into your business objectives
Keep your training programmes competitive
Support your employees with technical certifications

“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”

Albert Einstein said that, according to a motivational quote website.

If it wasn’t for years of learning from teachers, peers, relatives, employers and popular search engines, we would know very little.

Training & development isn’t just about acquiring technical knowledge on a subject, but how those ideas and processes fit into the greater ecosystem of relationships, business and wider human society.

There are of course more benefits to training & development for Cloud Managed Service and Solution Providers other than simply ‘doing a good thing’.

Expanding and developing your training practices for your employees will help you to attract a higher quality of candidate, increase the size of your talent pool and help you to retain and upskill the best cloud and IT infrastructure teams on the market.

But where should you start? Or if you’re already on your training programme development journey, how can you improve?

Here at InfraView we talk to top UK IT solution providers every single day, offering consultative advice on what a top Cloud Engineer, Programme Manager, Pre-Sales Architect or any other position in the project lifecycle might be looking for in today’s candidate-driven market.

If you’re in need of quick, personalised advice you can give us a call on 020 3617 1040 and one of our team can give their insight.

But for now, let’s learn more about what you need to know about cloud training & development.

Build your training practices into your business objectives

Training and development should be near the top of the list of things to think about for cloud solution providers.

As with any facet of your business, to get the most out of them you need to ensure they are built into your business objectives.

Our co-founder Tim Davey has some great insights into why and how you should be integrating your training and development programmes into your company targets and goals.

“Working in the IT solutions provider space, one of the most exciting elements is the constant change and development of technology that our clients design, architect, implement and support.

Developing your training programmes around technologies is critical to stay abreast of the changing cloud technology landscape and your competition.

For a cloud and IT infrastructure solutions provider, if you’ve got a stronger team you will better achieve your business goals and objectives.

For a candidate, it will make you both more marketable internally to your existing employer and also increase your job satisfaction as you take on more responsibilities and create a greater effect within the business.

Training and development programmes have hugely rewarding benefits from both a client and a candidate perspective, especially when embedded into your business plan and objectives.

If you are the first to market and have the strongest teams in:

Then you will sell more and be more profitable as a result.

You will be more attractive to top cloud candidates on the market. Upgrading your training & development programmes will allow you to recruit a better quality of candidates to your business and retain a stronger team within your organisation.

Supporting your staff will mean you can achieve better levels of certification, as a business being able to achieve stronger product discounts with vendors and charge higher consultancy day rates on your utilisation.

You will also get better leads from referrals and from vendor programmes.

But what is the best way of implementing this new training & development strategy into your existing business objectives plan?

Simply put, it must start from the top down. From C-level, through to management and across into finance to ensure the budget is there. Buy-in at all levels is crucial to drive these changes and in turn reap the rewards.

You should have a dedicated person or team focussed on managing and implementing the structure around training and development.

Also ensure that you speak to your teams. Who better to find out what the goals and expectations are around training & development than from your own people. Speak to them directly, involve them in the process.

By embedding your cloud training & development practices into your business objectives, you make these efforts visible and measurable. This means you can tweak in future to better achieve your targets and to tailor to incoming and existing staff.”

Keep your training programmes competitive

If you want to attract the best cloud talent, you need to offer the best package possible.

This doesn’t just mean salary and benefits. Cloud & IT infrastructure candidates are more and more asking about training & development programmes and opportunities at interview.

Our co-founder Tim Cazemage has some thoughts on the importance of a competitive cloud training programme, and how you can go about increasing the quality of your existing offering.

“We’re in a candidate-driven market right now.

Within the cloud & IT infrastructure managed service provider/IT solutions provider space, it’s important for businesses to showcase exactly why a candidate would want to join YOUR organisation.

What a great way to stand out it is, to have a competitive training programme in place which bowls over candidates who are looking to progress professionally.

Through market analysis and research, as well as speaking to multiple candidates daily when asking what type of training programmes they are looking for in their cloud jobs search, one answer came up time and time again;

A training programme that’s mapped out from the beginning that offers long-term personal and professional growth.

On top of this, top cloud candidates want training programmes where they have had input, where they could be the deciding factor in tailoring the direction towards their interest.

Any hire is a two-way exchange; it should benefit both the client and the candidate.

So how best to make your training programmes competitive?

1. Ask your staff

You know what type of training they’re looking for, whether that be technical or non-technical. Give them the opportunity to have input and to define and tailor the programme to their individual needs and interests.

2. Upskill in the latest cloud technology

Candidates are all looking for slightly different things these days, but a pattern between them is their desire to expand their technical knowledge. Even the best candidates have skill gaps, therefore they will want to upskill in the latest, cutting-edge cloud technologies.

3. Certifications

You can upskill through on-the-job training, and also through supporting employees through cloud certifications. Support your staff through this, and give them time in order to study for them.

These steps are all key in order to secure in demand top talent in the current market.

In order to keep your training programmes competitive, and to offer ones which match people’s needs from a technical and non-technical perspective, you should look at the following:

Competitor research

Research best practice
Survey current employees
Take time to understand individual needs and interests
Speak to a specialist recruitment consultancy

We can offer consultative advice on your training & development programmes, and offer you insight into what the best cloud talent is looking for in new cloud job opportunities.”

Support your employees with technical certifications

You’ve built your training & development programmes into your business objectives.

You’ve developed them to make them more attractive to potential and current employees.

One key way you can support your employees further is through cloud certifications.

Will Martin has some top tips on how to get the most out of them.

“In this competitive, candidate-driven market it’s increasingly difficult to attract the right sort of candidates that are really driven and passionate who wish to progress within your business.

They are looking at the training and development programmes that are offered alongside the role, not simply the salary and benefits package.

These top cloud candidates will look at jobs from companies that can offer a really strong training and development programme.

Developing your training offering shows potential candidates and current staff that you have a willingness to invest in employees. Most candidates want to be the best versions of themselves, and will only get better and better through continued training and development.

It’s also very costly for candidates to train and develop themselves so it can be seen as an additional benefit. They will see your cloud job role as a better opportunity for it.

Sometimes the deciding factor between job opportunities for these candidate can be the training and development programmes you offer.

Offering technical certification support for your staff increases employee retention. If you have no training and development and another company comes knocking on the door that can offer certifications and all of the training and development they could possible want, sometimes it can make them look at other options rather than stay where they are and channel all of their passion and talent into your business.

By having certifications as a benchmark when you are hiring as well it can also help you get a very targeted search. You can benchmark a level of candidates that will be passing through the vetting process in order to have an exceptional talent pool from which to select your successful hire.

Offering technical certifications and training will make you a far more attractive employer, help you retain more staff and increase the quality of candidates you have in your talent pool for selection.”

Conclusion

In today’s candidate-driven cloud jobs market, your training and development has become a crucial tool in attracting and retaining the best talent.

By building your training practices into your business objectives, you give your staff better direction and reap the rewards as the company progresses in its client work.

Developing these programmes and making them as competitive as possible will make the difference in securing that top cloud candidate.

Supporting your staff through cloud technical certifications will also give you a boost in bringing in the best cloud talent and retaining them within your business.

Need help today?

Give us a call on 020 3617 1040 or drop us an email at hello@infraview.co.uk.