Dimension Data reskilling engineers for DevOps and automation

One of the main themes of the first quarter has been the moves made across the channel to improve the technical skills held by the staff working at resellers.

January saw Westcon kick off a programme to support technical staff at resellers and that was followed by CompTIA relaunching its A+ certifications and HPE rolling out its technical commnity programme for the channel.

Further signs that the channel is investing in the training of its staff has emerged with the relationship between Dimension Data and Pluralsight Partners.

The channel player will be using the technology skills platform to get its engineers re-skilled in areas of DevOps and automation across 47 countries.

Dimension Data will be using the Pluralsight to help identify where gaps exist in different geographies and discover who has the right level of certifications.

“The technology landscape is actually moving faster than any sole person can keep up with. Being able to rapidly up-skill for client requests is crucial,” said Anthony Shaw, group director, talent and talent management at Dimension Data. “With Pluralsight, we’re able to do that, which is why we’ve chosen them as our skill development partner.”

“Before Pluralsight, we were spending about 75% of our training on external classroom training, but only training about 13% of our staff,” added Shaw. “So the savings and skills that come from using Pluralsight are exponential. We can train our entire staff faster and more cost effectively.”

Earlier this week, SolarWinds shared its IT Trends Report 2019: Skills for Tech Pros of Tomorrow, showing that there was an ambition among those working at MSPs and MSSPs and technical departments at traditional resellers to develop skills in AI, big data analytics but time and budget constraints are seen as a couple of major barriers.

“Recent history has proven that there is a direct correlation between technology and business performance,” said Joe Kim, executive vice president and global chief technology officer, SolarWinds. “The results of this year’s IT Trends Report highlight that businesses need to focus even more on developing these professionals charged with running and pioneering technologies for the businesses."

"By removing day-to-day barriers, arming technology pros with the right technology and management tools, and prioritising skills and career development in the IT budget, tech pros can be better equipped for the future and help with business growth," he added.