The changing work culture across industries has made it challenging for organizations to attract and retain talent. Today, employees are constantly looking for opportunities that provide an enriching experience and a better career purpose. With changing employee expectations from work and the growing demand for skilled technology professionals, organizations have no choice but to adapt to the new environment and develop strategies to create learning and innovation programs for employees at all levels.
451 Research – global research and advisory firm, released its Voice of the Enterprise in 2020 report. According to this report, about 85% of respondents spoke of the cloud expertise deficit in their organizations. This number has been on the rise in the last few years, and experts say that the scale of cloud adoption and the rising complexity of cloud operations are why there is a shortage of cloud talent across industries.
Cloud skilling can play a significant role in your organization’s transformation. Cloud powers organizations to scale infrastructure, develop innovative solutions, network better, and improve business resilience and security. To many companies, moving to the cloud means becoming more agile, spending less on data center management, and reach and deliver solutions to new prospects with greater ease. Therefore, companies are increasingly investing in cloud training as part of their cloud adoption or migration projects.
Meeting Organizational Goals with Cloud Fluency
So why is it essential for organizations to emphasize cloud skills development? The changing technology landscape and the pandemic have pushed organizations to change their approach to sustain and grow in the market. Many organizations from around the world are now considering a digital-first strategy in business. Since the cloud is an essential component of digitalization, organizations are working towards hiring new cloud talent or building cloud skills in-house to take on challenges.
Cloud skills development at an organizational level is not a one-time program. Instead, it is a gradual change in work culture and approach to business and requires commitment from the higher-ups. Renowned cloud platforms such as AWS and Microsoft that provide Microsoft Azure cloud recommend setting up a separate team to head the cloud literacy development project. Organizations can achieve the following outcomes through persistent efforts on cloud skills development throughout the organization.
>> Nurture Innovation
Cloud skills development exposes employees to the true potential of cloud computing. With this, the team can find ways to do their work better and improve their services/product offerings. Cloud can also help employees achieve better client/customer satisfaction through innovation.
>> Empowers Decision-Makers
Cloud training at an organizational level brings heads of various teams on the same page. Team leaders are empowered to make quick decisions when they have a proper understanding of the cloud capabilities. The changes speed up the innovation cycle, helping teams meet the business goals sooner.
>> Stay Relevant and Competitive
Cloud learning helps employees to stay relevant with the changing technologies. The knowledge of the latest features and services and the ability to utilize them to your advantage gives your organization an edge over the competition.
>> Attract and Retain Cloud Talent
An organization with a cloud learning strategy makes investments towards upskilling of its employees at all levels. The opportunities to learn, contribute and grow, motivate the employees to perform better and make them feel valuable. Such organizations can easily attract and retain cloud talent.
To Develop Cloud Literacy in Your Organization – How to go About it?
With digitalization, organizations will use more and more cloud applications in the years to come. Therefore, with cloud technology as the norm, training both the IT and non-IT employees in cloud computing and powering them to embrace the technology can become one of the key differentiators for your organization. But how do you start with the training and development of employees? Here are few essential steps that may help you channel your efforts in the right direction and get better results from cloud training at an organizational level.
>> Develop Interest
The first step will be to recognize the value that cloud literacy can bring to an organization and create interest among IT and non-IT employees, including the leadership. This step can set the right momentum for the cloud learning initiative.
>> Create a Team of Experts
Organizations working in the cloud or willing to migrate to the cloud will usually have a team that knows the technology. Your company must recognize such members and give them the responsibility to lead the project of cloud training. The unit can play a crucial role in setting the learning and development plan, helping decision-making related to programs etc.
>> Keep the Message Clear
The next step will be to ensure that the leadership from various departments communicates the right message to employees at all levels and see that they actively participate in the learning process. The employees must recognize the value that the cloud can bring to the company and them at an individual level. The employees must receive proper guidance on the training and its schedule and how they will manage the same with regular work. Feedbacks and questions must be encouraged from all employees.
>> Train
The next stage will be to list the goals, assess the training requirements, and plan the training program. You can partner with any of the authorized cloud training providers. The choice of the training partner is essential. Everything, from assessing the skills gap, understanding the business goals, and recommending the training program to delivering the best solutions, happens through your training partner. You can opt for group training programs, subscriptions that give you online learning material, hands-on labs, and many other forms of learning. Your azure training partner will assign you a learning consultant who will guide you through the process of organizational cloud training.
>> Nurture a Learning Culture
The next step will be to nurture a culture of peer-to-peer learning within the organization. This will translate the formal cloud knowledge in your employees to business solutions. Your organization must identify knowledgeable employees and give them opportunities to share their understanding and help other employees to learn and grow.
>> Implement and Innovate
With cloud training, the company empowers the employees to take up projects and implement their learning to improve routine operations/products or solutions. The learning can create opportunities to explore and play further with new technologies such as machine learning, AI etc.
Microsoft Cloud Training Programs
If your organization is gearing up for a technological transformation with the cloud, you require a vendor and the learning partner that equips your team with proper skill sets. Cloud training can help your company to complete projects on time and reduce costs. Microsoft is one of the leading providers of cloud services. IT offers cloud training programs for both IT and Non-IT employees under its Azure training track.
Microsoft certification programs power your technical staff to develop new solutions and enable them to take your organization to new heights. The fundamental courses offered by Microsoft help build cloud literacy in teams and transform the operations in an organization. Find an authorized cloud training partner who can understand your business objectives and help you translate your learning goals into meaningful solutions for your company.
