Knowledge Integration Dynamics (KID), South Africa`s largest business intelligence and data management company, has announced the formation of the first dedicated training institution in this market.
The KID Academy has been created to address the chronic skills shortage affecting the business intelligence and related markets.
"All companies in this market are struggling with, on the one hand, resources, and on the other, skills levels," says KID Academy`s Charl Barnard.
"We are not exempt from this crisis, which is disrupting the market. Business intelligence is booming, which means skills demand exceeds supply by some distance."
The skills crisis has had a number of damaging consequences in the market:
* Inexperienced and under-qualified business intelligence practitioners are demanding and commanding disproportionately high rates;
* Customers are having to fund the learning curve of trainees, again at high rates; and
* Rather than develop their own, companies are poaching skills from each other.
"This is an unhealthy state. We understand that we have to create and develop skills," says Barnard, "so we are making the appropriate investments. The KID Academy is based on two previous successful intakes, where 16 people were trained and deployed in the market. Our next intake is in January next year. We are looking for suitably skilled people, such as graduates with B Com IT degrees, for instance. They will be carefully screened for aptitude and skills levels."
Trainees will be taken through a three-month programme, which addresses the entire business intelligence life cycle, from data warehouse design and architecture; through ETL (extraction, transformation and loading), including data quality and profiling; to the end result, including reports, dashboards and key performance indicators (KPIs).
Intakes will initially be limited to eight trainees, with courses running for three months. The cost of the courses will be borne by KID, and graduates will be expected to work on-site at clients for KID for a designated period.
Trainees will be exposed to tools such as Oracle, Microsoft, MicroStrategy, Cognos and Informatica, and certified on them where appropriate. Where no certification exists at present, KID has developed its own. In addition, KID will be obtaining the world`s leading training material from abroad, representing a total investment of more than R500 000.
"In time," says Barnard, "we expect the KID Academy to become a de facto industry-standard certification and be accepted as such by all in the market, including current competitors."
* To be considered for the initial intake of the KID Academy, contact Charl Barnard on (011) 462 1277 or charl.barnard@kid.co.za.
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Knowledge Integration Dynamics (KID) was formed in 1999 to address a clearly identified need in the South African corporate market for high-performance business intelligence solutions. The company has since evolved into a comprehensive and successful data management company, including master data management, data profiling, data quality, data integration, data transformation/migration, business intelligence solutions and information management. The company`s skills set spans multiple technologies while maintaining a focus on the business issues and deliverables, ensuring that the best technologies are deployed to support specific applications. In addition, the company provides expert consulting in strategy development, capability development and realisation programmes. For further information, visit www.kid.co.za.
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