The reality of corporate management challenges is driving outsourcing trends in the IT skills training arena and bodes well for IT service providers. The caveat is that the sourcing company must find service providers who clearly understand their role and are strong enough to deliver the goods irrespective of the culture of the sourcing company.
This is the view at CS Holdings, the JSE-listed company that recently won a R15 million, three-year contract to deliver IT education to insurance giant Sanlam Ltd.
"IT skills training has tended to be neglected in South Africa," maintains Kevin Kemp, a director of CS Education Solutions (Pty) Ltd, the IT education division of CS Holdings. "A historical remnant is the wide-spread imbalances caused by the business trend of focusing on profit centres rather than cost centres. Where IT was not a core activity of a company, IT skills training departments were at a particular disadvantage."
Louis Dittberner, a consultant to the Education Solutions division concurs. "The upshot was that internal IT training departments have historically fallen short on the facilities and funding required to deliver the level of training that would empower the organisation`s staff to use IT profitably.
"There is always a price to pay for neglect," says Dittberner. "In the business environment, a failure to understand the dynamics of growth and the cycles of development, means weaker resources. "Just as the country as a whole is affected by education delivery to all citizens, so in business, undervaluing the importance of skills training has affected commerce and industry`s ability to grow and deliver world class service.
Dittberner argues that the globalisation driving changes to the world economy is reflected in the rationalisation and reorganisation at corporate level in South Africa. Companies are repositioning and need high-level IT and business skills to compete globally. Where, in the past, only high-level executive skills training was outsourced, many companies are now also looking to outsource IT and general business skills training.
"This is to be expected as, more than ever before, the key to success depends on a company`s ability to focus on its core competencies," says Dittberner.
However, outsourcing does not guarantee success. Companies outsourcing their training requirements need to assess the delivery capability of the service provider meticulously.
"A core differentiator is the training-service provider`s ability, because of its specialisation, to keep up to date with the latest trends in its field. In any arena this is key; in IT it reflects an ability to match the technology to the client`s requirements. The dynamics of training are such that the bleeding edge is very often the leading edge and an insurance against failure," says Dittberner. This is because of the nature of training. Training is the development of human potential. IT training should enable the trainee to use technology to the advantage of the employer. The way in which a person is trained has become a differentiator since the method will affect the delivery of this required outcome.
Kemp agrees: "Today, virtually all employees need an insight into not only the applications they use, but also the company`s IT infrastructure and the way in which their business operates and benefits from IT.
"This understanding enables them to do their own jobs better and to see ways of improving their own productivity. They are able to effect changes that enable them to deliver a better service to and for the employer.
"The external training service provider is only able to achieve this type of outcome by using the latest training methods and methodologies effectively. Its own training staff need to be empowered to operate on a level where their own people skills, training skills and depth of IT knowledge are used to improve the service delivered to the client and its staff.
"In addition, the service provider cannot deliver at this level without empowering clauses within the agreement it has with the client," says Kemp. A major change that has occurred in the education arena in general is the acceptance and understanding among all sectors of the concept of "outcome delivery."
In addition, IT training has had to contend with shrinking technology refresh cycles. New technology equipment and new versions of software have made it difficult to keep up to date.
"IT training requires the budget and resources to keep up with technology refresh cycles," says Kemp. "It is a misconception that cheaper training will produce quality training or market value. Invariably this is a short-term benefit. In the long term, for internal IT training units specifically, this results in the self-fulfilling prophecy of captive markets. The captive market philosophy results in a lax attitude to keeping up with trends in training and an inability to compete with its external competitor," adds Dittberner.
However, the old maxim of outsourcing to get rid of the nuisance factor no longer applies. "Companies in favour of outsourcing need to understand the principles of partnership," says Dittberner. "Outsourcing is not a one way street; it requires considerable input from the client. The service provider cannot provide the level and quality of training required by the client without knowing and understanding the client`s strategic goals," adds Kemp.
"Training needs to be aligned to corporate strategic goals and quality of training needs to be consistent and quantifiable. This can only occur where a strong, stable, professional service provider is selected and is allowed to build-up an intimate knowledge of the requirements of the client," concludes Kemp.
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