Skill-Based Training

In the new e-business economy, today's enterprise IT systems must do more than just provide the traditional support mechanisms such as payroll, transaction processing, and so on. Now they must be Web-centric and customer-focused--the backbone of the enterprise's undertakings. Increasingly, IT systems are the initial, and often primary, customer contact. Yet IT departments are still staffed by people. The enterprise's human capital remains its foremost mission-critical asset, and it is increasingly understood that investments made in IT education help to increase productivity, decrease downtime, and utilize IT resources more efficiently.

But just as it is driving new roles for IT in the business enterprise, the dot-com economy is creating new roles for IT professionals and requires new skills. Businesses cannot afford to have mission-critical employees off the job for extended periods, so they are demanding new methods of IT training. The traditional view of expensive instructor-led, classroom-based training focused on discrete topics is being replaced by a concept of continuous, skill-based learning delivered through multiple media, with content inherently aligned to corporate goals, strategies, and tactics. General courseware is being replaced by the need for preplanned, integrated, and comprehensive skill-based training plans that are essential for companies to be able to recruit, retain, and retrain their employees.

Skill-based training has emerged as one approach that ties skills directly to job roles. This type of training addresses the broad range of skills required to do a certain job by offering courses in modules that students can progress through. Course requirements are based on an individual's current skill level, and are no longer related to specific prerequisite courses. The focus of skill-based training is to make learning immediately applicable in a job.<>