Training for innovation
A major university medical center in Pennsylvania has made IT training a cornerstone of its strategy for innovation. In an effort to address the current crisis in health care in the U.S., the institution partnered with IBM in "a landmark relationship" to work toward streamlining operations, providing better patient care and lowering costs. The medical center worked with IBM to overhaul and optimize its IT infrastructure, while at the same implementing a strategic, comprehensive training plan that focused on skills transformation and the institutionalization of an innovative IBM Collaboration Portal. The Portal is designed to tie people, teams and professional colleagues together and offers an added layer of risk mitigation to the Center's large training engagements. It functions as a central repository of training needs, and provides a platform for communication, collaboration and access to subject matter experts and specialists. It is also an effective and provocative way to position training as an easily managed element of its strategic innovation plan.
One of the largest U.S. financial services firms, with more than 7 million individual investor accounts and $1 trillion in client assets and considered a vanguard of innovative practices, turned to us to implement an important piece of their training strategy. Last fall the company purchased IBM's Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), a nonproprietary set of best practices that has become the de facto international standard for IT service management. Public and private sector organizations across the globe are implementing the ITIL framework to boost customer satisfaction, reduce costs and align IT with business goals. With a number of vendors among which to choose, the client's decision to go with IBM was driven by IBM's depth of training curriculum that offered everything from general awareness courses to help managers and executives understand what ITIL is, all the way to in-depth certification courses for practitioners.
Another long-time IBM hardware and software client recently renewed its sizeable training contract to ensure its technology investment is complemented by an investment in its IT staff. The client has engaged IBM trainers to hone the skills of hundreds of staff in the past year, including systems administrators, database administrators and software developers. As an expert in technology services, our client is capitalizing on its successful strategy of maintaining a highly skilled IT operation, which has been instrumental in the rollout of innovative new services, such as their cutting edge CRM solution.
Training is part of our DNA
Ranked no. 1 in technical training (Training Magazine 2004 and 2005), IBM is a prime example of the competitive advantage a company derives from investing in its people. "A belief in the value of learning is embedded in the very DNA of IBM. It's not surprising that for the second year running, IBM has captured the top spot in the Training Top 100 ranking," noted Training publisher Richard Ausman. IBM's rigorous in-house training regimen and our dedication to a highly skilled workforce provides a strong foundation for our role as an innovation integrator, enabler and partner. Key to that role is providing IBM clients not only the best hardware and software to meet their business goals, but also training to help optimize their workers' skills and support a smooth, trouble-free technology implementation.
To accommodate the wide range of clients' needs, IBM's comprehensive portfolio of technical training courses can be tailored to the individual needs of each client, and to cut down on costs and paperwork, clients can use the IBM Education Pack-online account, which enables them to better manage their education budgets and train multiple employees as needed. Courses can be provided online, at IBM classroom facilities or onsite at the client's location. For clients with special training needs, IBM can create a custom curriculum from scratch and provide the experts to teach it. In addition to online and classroom training, IBM offers clients the opportunity to participate in technical conferences that provide a venue for mixing with peers, meeting with mentors and gaining hands-on experience with new technologies. These targeted solutions help reinforce IBM customer relationships and ensure that the next time clients need to upgrade their systems, they will think IBM.
In a world of relentless change and rising global competition, IBM is uniquely positioned to offer not only the advanced technologies and capabilities that can help drive innovation, but also the training that makes it all possible. And that is truly "innovation that matters." |