Cloud Education Helps Businesses Wise Up
December 23, 2011
Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) often hear the refrain that cloud computing is an essential move if they want to cut costs and become more agile. Often lacking, however is training necessary for the deployment of new technology, leaving SMBs with fewer benefits than expected. Now, "cloud education" is becoming a priority for businesses of all types.
Training a New Breed of IT
Businesses looking to operate in a cloud environment need two things–an effective provider and IT staff knowledgable about how the cloud operates. According to an article at Technocrati, the non-profit trade association for the IT industry CompTIA has now introduced a Cloud Essentials Program, which will provide IT professionals with the training necessary to manage cloud resources effectively. The move is a nod to the separate and distinct channel that cloud education occupies, that is, one that isn’t satisfied by knowledge of localized data best practices or those relating to legacy systems…
CompTIA’s Essentials Certificate provides IT professionals with both cloud-specific basics of usage and more detailed criteria used to measure performance in cloud settings. Initial cloud deployments for businesses of all sizes are often hampered not by supporting technology but by a lack of expert knowledge and advice, a gap CompTIA hopes to help bridge.
A Cloudy State of Mind
In addition to getting in-house IT the kind of cloud education necessary to help manage emerging technology solutions, SMB owners should take the time to understand their public, hybrid, or private cloud. Solutions such as IBM’s eBook Private Cloud for Dummies can help provide basic information for a business and put cloud technology into perspective rather than leaving it shrouded in mystery. The cloud is an oft-defined term, but its definition lacks standardization. Basic knowledge of concepts can go a long way toward ensuring that ROI on cloud solutions is realistic instead of simply predicted.
Even educational institutions will have to make room for cloud education. A recent article from Codestone acknowledges the cloud’s role in streamlining processes such as the "Bologna Process," in which a student’s entire data record must be moved when he changes schools. With the right cloud technology in place and trained professionals at the helm, this process can be made much more efficient. According to Jonathan Bishop, who chairs Swansea University’s Centre for Research into Online Communities and E-Learning Systems, the cloud has a "significant role" to play in education.
Don’t Be Left on the Ground
Cloud education is rapidly becoming a must-have for SMBs, whether in the form of trained and tested IT professionals, basic eBooks, or best practices. Regardless of what level of cloud immersion a company opts to use, knowledge about the systems in place is key.