CORCORAN TO HEAD MICROSOFT SKILLS DEVELOPMENT GROUP
Microsoft UK has announced that Garry Corcoran will be the new manager of its Skills Development Group in succession to Paul Morgan. Corcoran has been with Microsoft for eight years and has been closely engaged with partners in each of his positions. Before joining Microsoft his previous jobs included working in education and training: he is said to have “passion for learning” and had the experience of setting up what were then called Authorised Training Centres. He will start officially in his new role on 3rd March. Morgan has been promoted to a worldwide role as Partner Skills Development Group Manager, and will continue to be based in the UK. Feb 2008

IT TRAINING AWARDS 2008
Leading players from the industry gathered once again at London's Dorchester Hotel for the IITT’s annual IT Training Awards event. The star of the show was Firebrand Training (formerly The Training Camp) which won the coveted Training Company of the Year award for the third year in succession – and also took Learning Centre of the Year again. This year's winners in full were:

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists, and to charity auctioneer Alan Bellinger, who once again succeeded in raising a substantial sum for ChildLine. Full details of award winners can be found on the Institute's website. Feb 2008

PARITY INVESTS IN NEW CITY TRAINING CENTRE
Parity Training has opened a new training centre in the heart of London’s financial district, in response to increasing demand for its IT professional and management training. The company says it has planned every detail of the new centre in Moorgate with a clear focus on its clients, “providing our clients with what they need and where they need it - ideally located for access from both within and outside of London”, according to Rick Firth, managing director of Parity’s training division. Parity says growing demand for management training resulted in a 20% increase in this type of course last year, and the new training centre is further proof of its commitment to be responsive to market needs. Feb 2008

FIREBRAND SAYS CHARTERED STATUS IS IT’S BEST-KEPT SECRET
A survey of IT professionals conducted by Firebrand Training found that 91% of UK IT workers feel their careers would benefit from a chartered accreditation, but don’t realise one already exists. The BCS offers a Chartered IT Professional (CITP) credential, but Firebrand says most IT staff are simply unaware of its existence. The Accelerated Learning pioneer, formerly The Training Camp, is calling for the BCS to promote CITP to IT workers far more dynamically. “Most industries benefit from having a chartered accreditation, and IT is no exception,” explains Rob Chapman, CEO, Firebrand Training. “But many professionals are missing out, simply because they haven’t heard of it.” Feb 2008

NEW CERTIFICATION FROM COMPTIA
CompTIA has announced the worldwide availability of its newest certification, CompTIA Printing and Document Imaging+ (CompTIA PDI+). This is a vendor-neutral credential which certifies that an individual has the required baseline technical skills to service and support printing and document imaging devices, as well as the business and communications acumen necessary to provide a high level of customer service. Target candidates for CompTIA PDI+ are service technicians, support technicians, help desk staff, and other IT professionals who are responsible for the installation, connectivity, maintenance, repair, and support of printing and document imaging devices. Feb 2008

INVESTMENT IN TRAINING SET TO GROW IN 2008
Investment in training and career development is set to grow in 2008 as companies devote more resources to non-pay related strategies to keep their staff motivated and engaged, according to findings from Mercer’s European Total Rewards Survey. The survey provides an insight into the rewards practices, objectives and challenges facing European organisations. It says future investment will focus on career development and training opportunities: organisations are recognising the ineffectiveness of strategies that focus only on pay and benefits to increase workforce engagement and satisfaction. Feb 2008

BCS AND IET TO WORK TOGETHER
The BCS and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) have signed a memorandum of understanding which will see the two bodies work more closely in the future. One of the main elements will be the joint development and promotion of professional status across the IT profession. This means that in the future, the BCS and IET will work together so that at some point the IET will be able to confer CITP status to its members who are eligible. Commenting on the agreement, David Clarke, BCS chief executive, said: “Our trustees have taken this decision in the interests of the profession and see it as an important step towards achieving the aims of the BCS Professionalism in IT initiative. IET is the ideal partner to help us to reach this goal”. Feb 2008

COMPUTEACH INNOVATES WITH KALLIDUS LMS
Computeach, which claims to be the longest established IT training company in the UK, is to implement the Kallidus Learning Management System from e2train to deliver and manage training provision for thousands of its learners. Computeach says the move is part of a significant investment in technological resources to ensure it continues to deliver the latest technologies, courses, expert tuition and support. Lucy Ireland, Head of Learner Services at Computeach, explains “Our goal is always to provide the best service for our learners. The implementation of the Kallidus Learning Management System means the delivery of our training becomes even more user friendly. Learners will have just one central access point for all their learning, communications and support including forums and blogs. This move will bring everything together in one place and make it completely customer-centric”. Feb 2008

KNOWLEDGEPOOL REPORTS STRONG RESULTS
Managed learning services company KnowledgePool has announced strong financial results for the year to September 2007. The company – which manages learning for clients such as British Airways, Lloyds TSB and Merrill Lynch – says its turnover increased by 90% to £14.2m, and that it won 11 major new contracts during the year. It also relocated to larger premises in Bracknell. This was KnowledgePool’s third consecutive year of growth since it became an independent business under private equity ownership. Feb 2008

XPERTISE AWARDED IBM RESELLER OF THE YEAR
IBM has selected Xpertise as its Reseller of the Year for 2007. Xpertise has provided accredited IBM training for several years, but says a great deal of the company's IBM training success in 2007 was from taking IBM training services into its managed training services customers. "Managed training services is one of our key growth areas," says commercial director Bill Walker. "A key part of our success has been connecting with larger clients who have a broader range of needs. Our IBM training has been absolutely crucial in helping many of those clients. During 2007 we increased our IBM training business by 84%." Xpertise is an authorised IBM Education Centre providing accredited training on IBM's AIX products, and also works with IBM to take its wider portfolio into clients. Feb 2008

ITIL V3 “SLOWLY MAKING ITS MARK”, SAYS PARITY
Recent research from Parity reveals ITIL V3 is slowly gaining traction, but there is still confusion in the marketplace. A survey of attitudes and adoption rates of ITIL V3 at the recent itSMF Conference shows 31% of respondents currently use V3 within their organisation and nearly 40% believe that it offers a more strategic approach, with only 4% deciding against it. On the more negative side 16% of respondents admitted to being confused about the difference between ITIL V2 and V3 while 26% said they had not yet been through the training. "The problem is ITIL V3 books and training for certification tell you the ‘what’ but not necessarily the ‘how’", said Rick Firth, Managing Director, Parity Training. Feb 2008

UNIVERSITY TRAINING FOR IT PROS
A new Masters' level development programme to fast-track the careers of new IT professionals has been announced by e-skills UK, which is working with universities and employers to create the programme. e-skills UK says many traditional entry-level IT roles are disappearing from the UK due to offshoring and technological advances, while increasing numbers of IT professional roles in the UK are becoming focused on highly skilled, customer-focused areas such as project management, business analysis and solutions design. This means that new IT professionals “have to climb a career ladder with the bottom rungs missing”. e-skills says the content of the programme will reflect the IT Professional Competency Model (PROCOM), which builds on the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) to provide a framework for IT professional learning and qualifications. Feb 2008

BCS OFFERS ISEB PROFESSIONAL AWARD
The British Computer Society has launched a new award for individuals who have achieved ISEB qualifications outside their specialism in addition to those within their own area. The ISEB Professional Award is based on job roles and will require a higher level qualification in a specialist subject area; membership of the BCS (or professional organisation with a reciprocal arrangement with the BCS eg: ISM); Foundation Level certification in at least two subject areas, including one directly related to the specialist area; and one or more additional Practitioner Level certificates. Feb 2008

IMC WINS FIRE SERVICE COLLEGE LMS TENDER
IMC's Learning Management System CLIX has beaten off competition from a number of established players to win the Fire Service College’s tender for the implementation of a new Managed Learning System. Alongside CLIX, IMC's rapid authoring tool LECTURNITY will also be used to create and deliver learning and communications content for the College. Implementation of the CLIX system, hosted initially by IMC, is starting immediately with an initial 24-month contract. Feb 2008

FOCUS EXPANDS ITS RANGE
Training organisation Focus-on-Training has launched a website which it says is designed to be a resource tool with value added features for those interested in learning and skills development. It follows the same model that Focus has applied to Project Management training for several years. The new service includes training in ITIL, software testing, business analysis, IT governance, CompTIA and Microsoft. Focus says it offers “the one stop shop convenience of a managed service provider but without the contractual ties and complexity”. Feb 2008

NEW PROJECT MANAGERS FOR BRIGHTWAVE
Brightwave has expanded its project management team as a result of consistent project growth for new and existing clients. The team now has two additional Project Managers, Faye Crowther and Jane Moore who are both based at the central Brighton office. Faye Crowther was previously e-Learning Manager for the Institute of Directors, and joins Brightwave from Fuel IT where she worked on the development of compliance-based e-learning solutions. Jane Moore has over 10 years’ experience in the e-learning industry, most recently as a project manager at Epic Group. Feb 2008

KINEO OPENS SHEFFIELD OFFICE
Brighton-based Kineo, a specialist in rapid e-learning, has opened its first regional office in Sheffield as part of its growth plans. Kineo already has a number of clients in the city, including Ufi/learndirect, and says it looks forward to growing its local client base. Wendy Weller-Davies has been appointed as Kineo’s Project Director in Sheffield. Weller-Davies has 18 years’ experience in e-learning, in project management, account management and consultancy roles, and has previously worked at Learning Light, Tata Interactive Systems and ACT Consultants. Feb 2008

GIUNTI LABS AND CEGOS ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP
Giunti Labs is partnering with Cegos, a leading European training company. Cegos will promote Giunti Labs’ learn eXact learning content management system (LCMS) as its first choice content production tool, while Giunti Labs will promote the Cegos course catalogue alongside its own bespoke content production services. Cegos is based in France, and was set up in 1926. It is now a leading player in professional training: in 2006, the company generated revenues of €165.6m, of which 30% came from outside France. It employs 1,200 staff, including 700 consultants, and has a network of 10 subsidiaries outside France, located in the UK, Germany, China, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. Feb 2008

ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL CHOOSES COBENT
Compliance software vendor Cobent is helping Aberdeen City Council make training and development easier for the Council’s 12,500 full and part-time staff. The Council is using the Cobent Learning Compliance Suite (LCS) to convert specific classroom training into e-learning courses. It will use the suite to harness existing knowledge and experience to develop bespoke courses, which it says are less expensive than bought-in products and can be aligned more closely to staff needs. Feb 2008

TATA CLAIMS THREE RECORD ORDERS
Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) says it has scored a ‘business hat trick’ by winning its three largest orders. At the beginning of 2007, Tata says it won a $3m order to design and develop e-learning solutions for an organisation in the Asia Pacific region. This was followed in quick succession by an order valued at $7m, from the European region. This record was then matched by an order of equivalent value, from a client in North America. TIS says it believes this order “ranks among the largest single orders won by any e-learning developer in the world”. [Unfortunately, TIS has not revealed the names of the clients who placed these orders!] Feb 2008

NATIONAL OCCUPATIONAL STANDARDS FOR IT USERS – HAVE YOUR SAY!
Following a series of events and focus groups during the autumn, e-skills UK has published for wider consultation an amended set of National Occupational Standards for people who use IT in their everyday jobs. The National Occupational Standards are the basis for IT user qualifications. The draft standards can be found at www.e-skills.com/nos2008. e-skills would welcome comment on the standards as a whole, or on individual areas or statements of competence. The public consultation on this version of the draft standards will remain open until 28 February. Drafts of the IT Professional and Telecoms standards will follow shortly. Feb 2008

EMPLOYERS URGED TO CHANGE ATTITUDE TO TRAINING
A new survey of the UK workforce conducted on behalf of the LSC found that more than half (54%) of respondents said they would rather improve their current role, compared with just 16% preferring to start afresh. 46% of employees said training would make them more likely to stay with the company, while 45% would feel more valued, and 46% more motivated if their organisation invested in their skills. But an earlier report by the DfES (now DIUS) suggests employers are overlooking the benefits that training can bring to staff retention: it found that less than 1% of employers would increase training to encourage staff retention or morale. Of those who did train their staff, 4 in 10 employers reported an increase in staff retention. Feb 2008

UNIVERSITY TRAINING FOR IT PROS
A new Masters' level development programme to fast-track the careers of new IT professionals has been announced by e-skills UK, which is working with universities and employers to create the programme. e-skills UK says many traditional entry-level IT roles are disappearing from the UK due to offshoring and technological advances, while increasing numbers of IT professional roles in the UK are becoming focused on highly skilled, customer-focused areas such as project management, business analysis and solutions design. This means that new IT professionals “have to climb a career ladder with the bottom rungs missing”. e-skills says the content of the programme will reflect the IT Professional Competency Model (PROCOM), which builds on the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) to provide a framework for IT professional learning and qualifications. Companies backing the programme include Microsoft, HP, IBM, Oracle and Cisco, while universities currently involved in the programme include Cranfield, Lancaster University Management School, Manchester Business School, the Open University and UCL. The programme is supported by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Feb 2008

EDUCATION MINISTER SAYS IT FUNDING WILL NOT BE RESTORED
Last month we reported on a government proposal that would cut funding for IT training by directing money away from those studying for second qualifications, which often include IT (see below). But despite the shortage of IT students, the minister for higher education, Bill Rammell, has told a DIUS Select Committee enquiry it is unlikely that funding will be restored for IT training. This will cause problems for IT staff wishing to up-skill and retrain – especially for women returning to work after having children – and for non-IT graduates who want to go into the profession and need to take the appropriate courses. Rammell said that he was “not persuaded at the moment in respect of IT”, but that there should be an annual review. Feb 2008

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