e-skills UK Guide

Getting good IT training

How to get good IT training for you & your team

Most people in small businesses would agree that being “computer literate” is a very useful skill. Being able to use a computer to send emails, manage accounts, write letters and complete invoicing will save you many hours a week compared to slower, manual methods.

This Guide explores the topic of getting the right skills in IT and computing to help your business. The cost of IT training can vary enormously. There is a lot of free material available on the internet, especially on the websites of product vendors. Alternatively you may decide to attend a formal classroom based training course that may cost £150 - £300 per day, depending on the class you attend.

By undertaking suitable IT training you will become proficient in using a computer and save both time and money for your business.

What is good IT training?

Good IT training must be defined as training that is delivered at the right time, at the right pace and in the right way for you to achieve immediate business benefit. By investing in training, either financially or by your time, you would hope to achieve some business return. This may be as straightforward as learning how to use a spreadsheet application more effectively or learning about a specific technology so that you can sell your services in that particular area.

Some small businesses offer specialised training as an incentive for people to join their company. Consider the implications of this, and if need be look at a contractual agreement so that the employee is bound to pay back a % of the training cost if they leave within a set period – maybe 1 year. 

You need to remember that we all learn differently. We all learn at different rates and better using different learning tools. Some may prefer a formal classroom experience, others an informal web based learning experience.

Whatever the delivery tool, we must be able to derive some business benefit from the experience.

Training delivery methods

As we have discussed, not everyone can learn effectively sitting down in a classroom. There are now a number of ways we can learn about IT, all of which have benefits and drawbacks. Ultimately it is up to you and your team to decide the best way of achieving the learning objective.

You will also need to factor into the cost of the course the time you or your team will spend away from the business. Loosing staff for a 5 day course can have implications for their work load and the amount those left behind will need to pickup:

• Long-term classroom- and/or work-based course – most commonly offered in the Further Education sector. Day-release and evening-class options may exist.
• One-off or short-term classroom courses – a popular offering from IT vendors and private training providers.
• Consultant-led training – typically offered by an expert who will come into your place of work and act as an expert to your staff.
• Online-training, CD- or book-based learning – good for self-starters and possibly a cheaper option in terms of outlay; and it may be easier to fit around a buy work day.
• Self-help/Ad hoc – this is how self-taught people tend to become self-taught; by ‘absorbing’ information from books, magazines and the web. Not as structured or as purposeful as the other methods, but it can result in some skilled people.

You should also bear in mind the purpose of the training, an option with all of these training types. Do you want it to:

• Address a specific issue? (for example, “how can I use a spreadsheet to manage finances?”).
• Cover some specific operating system, application or set of applications? (For example Photoshop, Word, AutoCAD).
• Support your staff towards some recognised qualification?

Below we present the strengths and weaknesses of the various delivery methods offered here:

Long-term classroom

• Ability to customise - Varies depending on course taken up.
• Ability to fit in around work – Varies: day release poor, but evening courses more flexible.
• Typical costs - Typically a cheap option and you may find some free ones.
• Duration - Varies from a month to years.

Short-term classroom

• Ability to customise - Typically limited.
• Ability to fit in around work - Poor.
• Typical costs - High: £150 a day is not unusual.
• Duration - Usually limited to a few days.

Consultant led

• Ability to customise - Typically very high.
• Ability to fit in around work - Poor – while the consultant is on site, if (s)he/s not training, you’re wasting money.
• Typical costs - Consultancy fees can be £500+ a day or more, which is expensive unless you’re training several staff.
• Duration - Set by you. Cost is probably the limiting factor.

Online/CD/Book

• Ability to customise - Limited to completing out of sequence.
• Ability to fit around work – Good.
• Typical costs - Depends on the option chosen, but should be cheaper than person-to-person teaching.
• Duration – Depends on content.

Ad Hoc

• Ability to customise – High: by definition this learning is customised according to need.
• Ability to fit around work – High.
• Typical costs – Low: entails supporting the staff-members consumption of books and periodicals, and time.
• Duration - Is probably never truly complete.
• The training method you choose should depend on your business and staff circumstances, and their abilities, learning styles and preferences.

Buying IT training

Like any investment a small business make, buying training needs to be measured against the return you will get. There is no point attending a course that is inappropriate for your skills or requirements. You might want to the Creating an IT Training Plan Guide which has some useful tips on getting the best out of your training.

There are some simple steps you can take to ensure you purchase the correct type of training.

You will need to assess the skills of you and your team to see where the knowledge gaps may be. You could consider using tools to evaluate these skills such as the e-skills Passport. Establish realistic expectations for what you expect attendees to be able to achieve during the training, not forgetting to work with those who are going to attend the course!

The internet is the obvious place to look for training courses and providers. Formal training portals, like BTP, Training Pages , or parts of larger portals, like Yahoo! are good if you’re just starting.

If you’re looking for training in the products of a specific vendor, e.g. Microsoft or Adobe, the company’s website may have listings of its accredited training providers and for information on the courses available at local Further and Higher Education Establishments it is best to search for their websites specifically.

Training providers do vary in the style and approach they take. Some may not cover the type of material you need or they may offer a different approach to their training.

Potential questions to ask include:

• What materials will the candidates be able to retain after the training?
• What qualifications or certifications does the trainer possess?
• What certifications or qualifications does the training offered help the candidate towards?
• If it’s a classroom course, what facilities are available? What is the trainer-to-student ratio?
• What scope will students have to dictate the material covered?

You will need to evaluate the benefit to your business of the training covered. It is sometimes difficult to measure this objectively, but ultimate if you and your team are able to complete IT tasks more quickly and with less problems then the training is probably a success.

Some training providers will offer some fairly compelling deals that will enable you to get discounted training if you agree to purchase a set amount upfront. Some may design an entire training package for your business. For some these deals are very good, for others they may force you to take more training than you are comfortable with. Like any major purchase, think through the business benefits and consider your purchase wisely.

Other things to consider about IT training

When training your staff, there are a number of tips you might find useful to make the experience more productive;

• Check the competence of potential trainers with referees from previous jobs. Because many consultant trainers often have few formal qualifications themselves, positive references from other reputable companies are very useful.
• Select the right people in the organisation to train. For example if you have one office-expert who already does much of the work, consider training another person to mitigate the risk of him/her leaving rather than concentrating more of your businesses skills in a single person.
• Ask if separate learning materials need to be provided or if they are included in the cost, and incorporate their costs at the comparison stage.
• Staff need to be free of distractions to absorb on-site training or when pursuing self-paced learning like online or CD-based training. This can be particularly difficult in the case of a single skilled IT person who is responsible for supporting an entire organisation and is constantly being called upon by other staff. You should set clear boundaries and establish ‘do-not-disturb’ time for the training to take place.
• For these reasons, offsite training has special merits since it enforces a distance and ensures that the trainees are not bombarded with everyday support enquiries.
• The importance of being given an opportunity to rapidly apply training after it has been followed cannot be stressed enough. Applying the skills learned quickly reinforces them, and stops them from forgotten; It’s not fair to assume that a person who has been trained six months ago in a particular skill, but has not yet had an opportunity to apply it, is still competent in it.

Further information

For further information on this topic, why not take a look at these videos:

Getting the most from your suppliers

Effective IT planning

Commercial suppliers

We do not recommend specific products or suppliers; instead we provide you with a representative sample which covers the range of suppliers/products available. You may choose to look at these suppliers or products but this is entirely at your discretion.