Liberating IT Training for Professionals and Businesses

A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) can help eliminate training costs.

How does a 30-employee IT company cope with a $50,000 annual training cost (classes and travel alone)—not to mention the loss of labor for in-demand services while employees are training? One company has found a solution in Cybrary, a free IT and Cyber Security Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).

The executives at N2Grate participated in a case study to learn how Cybrary could save money and time. N2grate is a full-service value-added reseller providing comprehensive pre-sales and post-sales engineering services to customers in the B2G (business-to-government) space. Customers rely on N2grate to provide the best recommendations and advice on emerging technologies and trends—and training employees to meet these demands was costing $7,000 to $10,000 per employee.

Survey Says…
Earlier this year, Cybrary surveyed 405 senior-level technology professionals about their companies’ plans for IT training in 2015. Findings include:

  • 55 percent predicted an increased need for IT training this year and beyond.
  • 61 percent said employees in their company already need IT training.
  • Respondents ranked security compliance and governance, followed by programming and app development and business intelligence and analytics, as the top IT skills desired by hiring managers in 2015.
  • Moreover, 42 percent of companies plan to hire more IT staff in the next year, and most companies planned to keep training budgets the same as last year.
  • As for those budgets, training accounts for as much as 10 percent of overall IT budgets—but 11 percent of respondents said they don’t provide any money for IT training because it’s too expensive.

The data Cybrary compiled suggests companies are not providing enough means for IT training, despite a shortage of IT talent and ever-increasing technology and cyber-security challenges. This could mean disaster for these companies.

In terms of what makes for a preferred IT training environment, most respondents want a reputable company, a variety in content and courses, affordability, and collaboration with other IT learners. IT and cyber security professionals enjoy sharing industry accomplishments and knowledge, making collaborative learning a critical element in IT training.

No-Cost Solution

At Cybrary, we knew we could provide a no-cost solution to businesses. Founded in 2015, Cybrary gives aspiring and practicing IT professionals access to free, online, high-quality, open-source, and results-focused IT and cyber security training that will help start and advance their careers. Cybrary currently has 100,000 users worldwide and top managers with nearly 15 years of experience in IT training. Cybrary launched the free MOOC for individuals in January 2015 and followed that up with a platform for businesses to use and monitor trainings, plus a platform for classrooms.

In the first month using Cybrary, N2grate saved $7,000 to 10,000 per employee, and it’s projected that the MOOC will save the company $50,000 annually. Additionally, N2grate’s employees can complete the training course on their own time, which allows them to work on projects simultaneously.

Ralph P. Sita, Jr., CPA, is CEO and president of TrainAce and Cybrary. He oversees all financial data and corporate strategy. For more information, visit http://www.cybrary.it/. Sita is a graduate of the University of Maryland, and has been an active CPA for more than 25 years. He has a passion for management, technology, and business operations. He is a successful entrepreneur and started his first business in 1993—it is now a mature and thriving accounting firm.