Presented by Intelligent
Education Partner
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Increased competitive advantage
Reduced people related risk
Staff retention and loyalty
Enhanced employee satisfaction and
increased morale
• • Increased employee contributions due
to the added confidence and new skills
after training
• • Training/certification return
on investment
Andrew Stevens, President and CEO,
CNet Training
trade association that could take this on,
put the processes in place and manage
it for everyone, effectively becoming the
central watchdog for all. Government
regulation may occur in the future, as public
awareness focuses more on connectivity,
I believe the penny will drop soon within
government and as an industry we would
be in a far stronger position if we already
have effective self-regulation in place.
How can this risk be reduced
by having professionally
certified teams?
Every business claims that its people
are its most important asset and the
primary driver of success. But, how many
organisations genuinely have a structured
investment programme in training and on-
going education for mission-critical people?
People are the very lifeblood of any business
and organisations need to understand this
in order to continue to thrive.
The business case to invest in on-
going professional development and
certification for existing teams is
strong. By harnessing current skills and
embarking on a structured approach to
career development, in the form of new
learning and skills development enhanced
by professional qualifications and industry
recognised certification, data centre
managers can be confident that the data
centre is in the right technical hands. They
will also benefit from:
• • Increased quality of service to clients
• • Increased confidence in your teams
www.intelligentdatacentres.com
The organisation would also prove to be a
more attractive employer to potential new
staff. This competitive edge could allow the
organisation to be confident and therefore
help attract the highest calibre talent.
How would you describe
current attitudes towards
on-going education?
Attitudes vary on this one. For example,
in the Middle East we have found that
industry professionals are proud of their
achievements and really value their
certificates. In the US there seems to
be a culture of life-long learning, where
it is the norm to continue to enhance
knowledge, skills and professional
certifications. By contrast, within the
UK, the request for training or education
is often seen as a weakness, whereby
instead of seeing the positivity of the
outcomes of new learning, it is looked
upon negatively as having to fill the gap
when skills and knowledge are lacking.
However generally, I think the industry
is listening, but I think there is still a lot
of work to be done to ensure companies
understand what a qualification is and
how they differ to certifications. More
importantly, is that there is still a lack of
understanding surrounding the benefits
that a skilled, knowledgeable and
well-trained workforce will bring to an
organisation, it can drive profit and it can
go straight to the bottom line.
Why is on-going technical
development so crucial?
Within fast-moving technical
environments, such as the data centre
industry, there is a need to adopt a
positive attitude towards training and
on-going professional development.
Only then will professionals have the
opportunity to learn how to embrace the
new and emerging technologies and this
will, in turn, benefit the organisation.
Can you outline the alliance with
CBRE and the advantages this
will bring?
This is another big industry first for CNet
Training and we are delighted to be part
of such a huge global commitment to
education and professional development
with CBRE Data Centre Solutions. CBRE
has committed to certifying 100% of
its global technical workforce. Through
a strategic alliance with CNet, we will
work together to deliver a comprehensive
training and development programme
that requires each data centre technician
to achieve the highly respected Certified
Data Centre Technician Professional
(CDCTP) certification and therefore help
to be recognised as the most skilled and
knowledgeable data centre technical team
in the world.
CBRE already has an exceptional
global team and a solid reputation for
nurturing and progressing staff, and this
commitment to official certification has
raised the bar even further. I believe no
other organisation has committed to
demonstrating that their data centre
technicians are the best in the world and
proving it with 100% CDCTP certification.
We forecast that the project will take
two years to complete, it’s a monumental
project and one we are delighted to be
part of.
CBRE is leading the way by ensuring
it is nurturing and encouraging its
entire technical team to progress within
the industry. This is a move away from
most companies who tend to select
just a few throughout their team to
invest in and put through education
and development programmes to gain
certification and qualifications.
This commitment from CBRE give its staff
the personal and progression development
to enhance their career and make them
stand out from the rest. This puts CBRE in a
very strong position, it will continue to lead
the way in data centre management and
operational excellence and challenge the
rest of the industry to step up. ◊
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