A Well-trained IT Team: Your Company's Secret Weapon

Well-Trained IT TEAM: Your Company's Secret Weapon Every IT team will face challenges, and making sure that they're wel-trained will help them not only face those challenges, but surpass them IT professionals familiar with the latest programs, software, and systems will be better able to serve the needs of your business, and spot opportunities for improvement SKILLS EVERY IT TEAM SHOULD HAVE IT teams need to be able to meet a variety of challenges and fulfill a number of roles. Here are several areas where an IT team needs to flourish: DATA STORAGE AND INTEGRITY The way A company's data is one of its most valuable properties. we're storing our data has rapidly changed in the last decade. Amazon, Google, and a host of other companies offer cloud storage options for IT teams now need to be able to manage a company's data and understand how to support and integrate new data storage devices when they arrive. consumers and companies alike. DATA How does the company currently manage its doto? O Is there a better solution? (lower cost, more storage, more easily accessible between departments, etc) If there isn't o better solution right now, what would a better solution look like? Asking questions like these help IT teams know what to look for in training programs. DATABASE DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT Using a database system designed by an outside company typically requires outside consultations BILL: (which can quickly become expensive). OUTSIDE In-house database management through a company's IT team can be more cost-effective. SECURITY Companies face threats to their data from: Denial of service Compromised information Malicious Spyware attocks software Among 800 small businesses surveyed in 2013, and more. 56%yber-attack reported being the victim of A successful IT team should be knowledgeable of modern cybersecurity techniques and programs. Companies need to ensure that their 24 IT team keeps them protected 24 hours a day. ABSTRACT AND ALGORITHMIC THINKING IT professionals IT team members need to be abstract also need to think thinkers. algorithmically. They will encounter large amounts of complex data from a wide variety of Grouping data together in mathematical models will be vital to solving problems. sources NETWORK SUPPORT Businesses need to ensure DISCONNECT! that they're always connected to their network KOAN Network downtime can result in loss of data, customers, and revenue. The industry average cost per minute of network downtime was In 2013, that cost rose by 41% to 91% $7,900 of data centers experienced an unplanned data center outage in 2012-2013. $5,600 per mínute of unplanned downtime. in 2010. the average cost per hour of downtime was A UK report showed that. £138,000. (S215,558) CONSISTENT NAMING CONVENTIONS IT If everyone on the IT team uses the same naming convention, DICTIONARY communicating problems, collaborating on solutions, and debugging programs will become much easier. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT Using custom software developed by a company's own IT team allows them more control over their software budget Additionally, an understanding of how to create software wil help IT professionals better support whatever software a company currently uses. YOU NEED TO PATCH KDE2 UNDER FREEBSD! COMMUNICATION IT professionals are people hired to solve technical problems. They understand the technical jargon and industry lingo that goes along with solving those kinds of problems. NEED MORE SSD HDD! Employees in other departments will express their needs in their own words. IT teams need to be able to translate those needs into a structured solution. (??? At the same time, IT professionals need to be able to explain technical issues to people who aren't as versed in their jargon. BENEFITS TO TRAINING YOUR IT TEAM IMPROVE EMPLOYEE RETENTION Managers sometimes fear that investing training dollars in employees is risky. "What if I spend all this money and they just leave?" they think However, employees feel more appreciated and valued if a company spends money on training them, especially on company time. Employees that consider their supervisors "supportive" are 67% more engaged, and 1.3 times more likely to stay with a company. During training experienced employees look for solutions to problems they're trying to solve right now. While any training experience can beef up someone's resume, many employees won't feel the need to find a new job if they feel valued at their current position. 2 KEEP EVERYONE UP-TO-DATE Training can ensure that everyone on the IT team is knowledgeable about software and programs currently available. UPDATE COMPLETE They will also learn about solutions that might become useful to the company in time. SOT NEWS 3 TEST-DRIVE NEW SYSTEMS Before deciding to implement a new system, training the IT team on the resource can give a business insight as to whether that solution would work for them or not 4 ACROSS THE BOARD QUALITY If everyone on the IT team has the same knowledge pool to draw from, then the loss of a single team member (whether temporary or permanent) won't be as big a blow to the company. Training sessions can ensure that everyone on the IT team is as knowledgeable about the company's various systems as everyone else. DEASE DESe MITWORNG SOFTWAE DOPG Y DANCS INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY 5 Team members who have been PRODUCTIVITY trained will be more confident in their abilities, improving their performance and efficiency. A study by the National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce (EQW) showed that increasing the education level of employees by 10% led to an 8.6% increase in productivity. 6 CERTIFICATIONS AS MARKETING By keeping the IT team certified with software providers, companies can: Ensure their team Market their expertise to understands the latest changes and updates to the software customers CERTIFICATE Customers are more likely to do business with a company whose IT staff are certified professionals. REDUCE ERRORS Well-trained IT team members don't make as many mistakes, which saves the company money. ERROR! AGAIN! They also don't spend as much time solving problems, as they will already know what to do. CADOS C:\DOS RUN RUN DOS RUN HOW TO TRAIN YOUR IT TEAM COUCH Here are a few ways to help train your IT team: EXPLAIN IT What is the team expected to get from it? What is it? At its core, training a team about a specific program or solution involves: How does it work? SHOW IT Visual aids and graphical representations of the lesson can help people to better understand. Computer People learn in different ways, and not everyone is going to remember something explained to them out loud. Create visual aids that contain bite-sized pieces of information TRY IT OUT The best way for people to learn something is to try it out TRAINEE for themselves. TRAINING WORK While making a mistake using real customers/information can cause problems, it's better to understand how to fix errors in a training session than during an everyday occurrence. COMMUNAL LEARNING KNOWLEDE Now that the team has tried out the program, software, or equipment, have them KNOWLEDGE teach each other. Teaching someone else how to do something has been shown to help people remember lesson materials. Invite discussion to ensure that everyone understands the material. "The protege effect" shows that student teachers score higher on exams than those who learn the material only for themselves. THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO TRAIN A TEAM: EXPO TRADE SHOWS/EXPOS The New IT SOFTWARE While somewhat expensive, vendor- specific trade shows can offer a lot of valuable technical information in a short period of time. Lorger shows tend to be geared more toward marketing, and thus not os valuable in terms of training. TRIAL VERSIONS! Speakers will give talks on a variety of topics, and these can be valuable for IT teams. Sometimes booths will offer trial versions of products for companies to try out. TRAINING COURSES WITH INSTRUCTORS The "standard" form of training instructor-led courses typically focus on a specific topic, providing an in-depth understanding. They tend to last 3 between one and a few days. wed Certain companies even offer on-site training, where instructors come to a company site and train employees there. OJT ON-THE-JOB/FLOORWALKING Like the more "typical kind of training on-the-job training invoves instructors and experts. Unlike a classroom setting though, these types of instructors assist a team during their day-to-day operations. This kind of training doesn't require a major break in the normal operations of the IT team as they don't need to travel anywhere. VIDEOS Several websites offer training videos on a wide variety of topics either for free or with a subscription. These can be a valuable source of continuous training, or for training a team in between more in-depth lessons. "The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is to not train them and keep them." Zig Ziglar SOURCES: blogs.skillsoft.com, computerweekly.com, globatrecruiters.com, nsba.biz, evolven.com, datacenterknowledge.com, ambysoft.com, cio.com, blog.accessdevelopment.com, training4it.com, coned.howardccedu, smallbiztrends.com, blogpluralsight.com ideastimecom ziglar.com, businiessknowhow.com. BEST STL www.MICROSOFTTRAINING.NET %24