CompTIA held its annual EMEA partner awards last week in London. The awards were hosted by Jason Moss, Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East & Africa, CompTIA. A total of seven technology training organizations, four academic institutions and one individual instructor were honoured for their commitment to training.
The awards took place at the CompTIA EMEA Member and Partner Conference (EMEAcon) in London. The conference, which spanned two days, gave partners and members a chance to catch up on the latest training trends. It was also an opportunity for CompTIA to talk about the integration of Test Out, a company it acquired earlier this year.
Moss said, “We are proud to work with so many talented organizations and individuals who share our passion in developing tech training and furthering the future of the industry. These awards give us the opportunity to celebrate the positive impacts our partners are making in developing talent that can transform businesses.”
Organisations beginning to invest in training again
What was evident from the awards was that organisations are again investing in training. This should come as no surprise. Across the whole technology sector, there is a significant skills shortage. The shortage is so acute in areas such as cybersecurity, data analytics and AI that organisations can no longer afford to just outbid rivals. They are having to invest in their own staff and make ongoing training part of many job offers.
For CompTIA training partners, this is good news. Courses are not only heavily booked, providers are looking at a backlog of training due to a shortage of skilled trainers. It means that they can invest in the future and build their business.
Many training providers also work with CompTIA on the design of courses and certifications. It gives them a stake in the future of the business beyond simply being a provider.
Award winners
- The CompTIA Network Most Valuable Contributor was given to David Riley, of BIT Group. He delivered over 29 Security+ 5-day courses over the past 12 months.
- The Delivery Partner of the Year Award was awarded to both QA Ltd, a digital education and skills provider in the UK, and Global Knowledge, Middle East, a leader in IT training courses and certification.
- North Warwickshire College was recognized as Academic Partner of the Year
- Firebrand Training Ltd was named Apprenticeship Partner of the Year.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean?
Organisations are finally accepting that the era of telling staff to go and self-learn, either through a book or from online videos, is not enough. It has left many woefully short of skilled staff and stuck in a spiral of increased costs as they chase too few skilled workers in growing markets.
What will be interesting is to see how much the market grows over the next decade. Cybersecurity and AI skills shortages are acute. It is not enough to wait for people to finish university degrees and then spend at least a year becoming technically proficient. Organisations need people with skills now. If they can do that by reskilling and retraining internally, it makes sense because they retain knowledge of the organisation.