Life assurance giant Sanlam Ltd has outsourced its internal IT training division, to Cs Education Solutions, a division of CS Holdings. In terms of the potential R15-million agreement, CS Education Solutions absorbs Sanlam`s training staff and takes over the training facilities at Sanlam`s head office in Cape Town.
CS Education Solutions, which beat seven contenders to win the three-year contract, is ensured 7500 training days per year for the first two years, but anticipates the demand will average more than 10 000 day s per year, says Annette van der Laan, CEO of CS Holdings.
The training part of the Infrastructure Services division of Sanlam, employed 13 staff and has been responsible for both technical and end-user training within the Sanlam group. "Information technology is the backbone of business today," says Patrick Neale-May, Sanlam executive director: Infrastructure Services. "By outsourcing our training to CS Education Solutions, we are ensuring that our staff members receive world-class IT training from a company that offers it as a core competency. We believe the act of outsourcing training, and the quality of CS Education Solutions` service in particular, will enhance Sanlam`s ability to maintain high service levels. We expect to see improved efficiencies and effectiveness of services within the group, specifically at the business unit level."
Other benefits include a clear career path for the internal IT trainers within the CS holdings group. "The staff have expressed support for the deal and are already undergoing induction sessions with CS Education Solutions," says Neale-May.
CS Education Solutions will undertake training on a national basis, augmenting Sanlam`s internal IT training facilities and staff with its own where necessary. "In order to ensure that a new, separate identity is created for the old internal IT training unit, it will be revamped and transitioned and will operate as a branch of CS Education Solutions within CS Holdings," says van der Laan.
"Our main challenge will be to market the new CS Education Solutions training services to Sanlam`s business units. Sanlam has re-organised and its business units have become far more autonomous. Training contracts are still awarded on an open tender basis and Sanlam units may still look elsewhere for training. However, we view the contract as a time frame within which to prove ourselves to our Sanlam clients. We believe they will find our holistic approach to training effective and relevant to the way IT aligns with business today. Our value-add is more effective than anything our competitors have to offer," says van der Laan.
"Training today needs to be strategically aligned to our client`s own strategic direction. This deal gives us the opportunity to partner with and assist one of South Africa`s largest and most successful employers in achieving their business goals," concludes van der Laan.
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