How training for IT professionals supports your business... That businesses in Kenya are experiencing a chronic skills shortage, is a well-known reality. However organizations must realize that a "head-in-the-sand" approach to training and skills development will not help them or the Kenyan community to become a serious force in world circles. Recent events in Kenya (namely the connection to the rest of the world through fiber optic cable) has bought the importance of information technology and customer focused solutions into the minds of business people looking to enhance and grow their operations. From the largest Government department to the smallest at home business there is a place for IT to both education, entertain and enlighten. Medium to large businesses are more aware of the opportunities in a commercial and customer satisfaction perspective, but the reality is that all the technology will do nothing if the right people do not have the right skills to support it. Skills development in most IT staff has historically focused on technical training in the various applications that are being used in the business. While such training is critical what is missing from IT professionals is a lack of understanding regarding the importance of services as they apply to the business user. This missing customer focus does nothing to help the credibility of the IT professionals who feel that they are working long days with little or no appreciation. Once IT professionals are educated in the way that business people think; then they automatically become aware of how to communicate better and in a language that the business can understand. The other aspect of managing technical solutions relates to the techniques required to support the IT infrastructure as a cohesive unit. This means that all IT professionals share a common view of how the infrastructure delivers services and how to behave to fix user issues, how to solve problems so they don't reoccur and how to implement change in a way that does not spell disaster for the business. So the question is: where can IT professionals learn the importance of customer service and proper process? The answer lies within the ITIL Framework. ITIL is an acronym for Information Technology Infrastructure Library. It introduces to all IT professionals the concepts of strategic, tactical and operational level thinking when it comes to communication to people and support of technology. ITIL teaches the pupil how to approach technical issues as they happen, how to reduce the possibility of anything going wrong and how to plan for growth and performance of the systems they support. Above all this, ITIL teaches the student that business people rely on services in order to deliver organizational objectives and that as a team the entire IT department is responsible for delivery of those services. The ITIL framework has a series of training courses that are suited to all levels of experience within the IT department. The framework is globally recognized and carries levels of certification that can ultimately lead to "ITIL Expert" status for the individual. By Roger Purdie Roger Purdie is certified as an ITIL v3 Expert and is a member of the ITIL Qualification Board. He is currently the Managing Director - Quintica Kenya as well as Group Projects Director for the Quintica Group of companies. Regards, Moses www.quintica.net Moses Kamau Sales & Service Manager Kenya Office: +254 20 444 2900 Kenya Mobile: +254 720 416 564 Email: moses.kamau@quintica.com<mailto:moses.kamau@quintica.com> Skype: moses_kamau [cid:image001.jpg@01CB0D3E.3D948C70]