< PreviousIn simple terms, an IT skills gap is a mismatch between the knowledge an employer needs to meet business objectives and the capabilities of the organisation’s employees. It has predominantly been fuelled by a combination of factors including the advances in automation, AI and other emerging technologies, plus the lack of skilled personnel needed to interact with these new innovations. These technological advances have changed the way we work and nearly one-third of employees agreed that the skills gap has increased in comparison to last year. This has placed a staggering reliance on upskilling and reskilling the current workforce, as the widening gap can negatively impact employee confidence and productivity. But in order to be as effective as possible, learning and development must undergo a transformation. Bridging the gap Whilst hiring new team members to support the business is the ideal scenario for most organisations, it can pose some challenges related to onboarding and getting them up to speed with the organisation’s technology and operations. Keeping that in mind, companies are now upskilling and reskilling employees. This is the practice of IT leaders taking what their employees are each individually most skilled at and providing them with the required training to progress their knowledge or understanding of that subject. Additionally, it eliminates the resources needed to train new employees and maximises the overall skill set of the wider team. In line with today’s rapid digital transformation, many organisations are relying on reskilling or upskilling employees to train them on new techniques which will allow them to embrace new digital tools. There is a misconception that automation will make some roles obsolete in the future, but it is actually set to open up new opportunities for employers to create people-centric positions that will accelerate digital transformation for companies. Bringing value to employees In addition to bridging the IT skills gap and preparing organisations for technology advancements, upskilling is a great way to establish a culture of continuous learning across the whole business. Not only will employees feel empowered by their employer’s investment, they will also feel more confident and prepared to take on new tasks or projects, especially when looking at new technologies or digital tools. Employee morale will also improve as they can clearly Alan Hayward Sales and Marketing Manager SEH Technology It’s no secret that the global market is facing an IT skills shortage. In fact, according to McKinsey & Company, 87% of companies are aware that they either already have a skills gap or will have one within the next few years. Addressing the IT Skills Gap with Training and Development TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT www.networkseuropemagazine.com 60see a career development plan mapped out for them and they will have a brighter outlook on their future with the business. Employee retention is another benefit of upskilling or reskilling a team. This is because they understand that their skill sets will not become obsolete and they feel valued, as their employers are invested in their careers and development. By having a conversation with the team and building an understanding of what their job aspirations are, IT leaders can decipher what training is required and as a result, their employees will have a greater sense of purpose. Upskilling best practices It’s vital to make sure that training and development opportunities are readily available for everyone across the business. With this in mind, IT leaders will need to accommodate different teaching styles, such as traditional classrooms or online courses and provide training for all employees to ensure the maximum number of participants. Ultimately, employees learn and are motivated in different ways, so employers need to take this into consideration to bolster retention, revenue and long- term success. The IT skills gap is here to stay, meaning organisations need to find a way to overcome the hurdles that this may bring in the future. It is critical for businesses to invest in their team by upskilling and reskilling them to add long-term value to the organisation. By focusing on their development, IT leaders will be able to begin bridging the IT skills gap while fostering a culture of innovation, empowerment and productivity. aining t TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT www.networkseuropemagazine.com 61Movers and Shakers Centiel Invests in Service Sales Team CENTIEL UK, has invested further in its service sales team with the addition of Shane Brailsford as Area Sales Manager. Louis McGarry Sales and Marketing Director, Centiel UK confirmed: “Over the past 18 months, Centiel UK has invested heavily in expanding our service sales team for the benefit of our growing customer base. The addition of Shane Brailsford, based in Derbyshire, will strengthen our resources in the Midlands and the North although he has responsibility for the whole of the UK. “Shane will act as an external manager supporting our existing clients as well as establishing new business with a focus on service sales, which includes new maintenance contracts, battery replacements, capacitor and fan replacements, decommissioning and the removal of legacy systems which are no longer required.” With over 20 years’ experience working in the power industry, Brailsford joins Centiel from Finning UK where he was Sales Manager for two years. Prior to that, Brailsford was Northern Sales Manager for Dale Power for two years. He is a fully qualified electrician and has also held managerial project management and operation roles at AVK-SEG and Rykneld Homes. McGarry continued: “Shane’s extensive experience in the critical power industry makes him well placed to provide trusted advice to our customers, working to find the optimal solution for their critical power protection and maintenance contract needs.” Brailsford commented: “The company’s cutting-edge UPS solutions lead the industry, and the team has a great reputation. As a salesperson, you can’t ask for more! I’m now looking forward to growing the service division and contributing to the continued expansion of Centiel UK.” Cradlepoint Appoints Industry Heavyweight to Drive Expansion Cradlepoint has announced the appointment of Sarah Ralston-Good to lead Cradlepoint’s Enterprise Elite Partners across the UK & Ireland. The appointment will support and build on Cradlepoint’s impressive expansion in the EMEA channel market over the last year, where Cradlepoint has more than doubled its number of partner relationships, receiving more than 20 partner applications per week. Ralston-Good has over 20 years’ experience working in large data, voice and security networking companies, most recently with Juniper Networks as EMEA Director of Partner Marketing & Programmes, before running her own partner consultancy for four years. Following the launch of Cradlepoint’s award-winning partner program last year, which received recognition from leading channel commentators, Ralston-Good will be responsible for forging even more partnerships and developing stronger programs. Darryl Brick, SVP Channel EMEA at Cradlepoint, commented, “We are delighted to welcome Sarah to the Cradlepoint team. As a veteran of the industry, she has a huge wealth of experience and relationships that will prove invaluable to our Cradlepoint channel partners." Virtus Names Christina Mertens VP Business Development, EMEA Virtus has named Christina Mertens as VP of Business Development, EMEA. Reporting to Darren Watkins, Managing Director of VIRT Virtus US Data Centres, Mertens is a key appointment at a very exciting time for Virtus, as she will be responsible for identifying acquisition opportunities across EMEA. Mertens will lead Virtus’ strategy of EMEA data centre expansion and business development in the region, tasked with defining and executing go-to- market strategies, including identifying and launching Virtus operations in Europe and seeking acquisition opportunities throughout EMEA. This is a new role underlining Virtus’ aggressive growth ambitions. Mertens joins Virtus with over ten years’ experience in developing strategies for, and expanding, existing and new hyperscale infrastructure geographies across EMEA. For the past decade, she has worked for Amazon in EMEA, where she expanded the existing AWS data centre regions in colocation and self-built facilities, as well as launched new region geographies as the Country Manager. In her previous role as Data Center Divestiture Principal at Amazon Web Services in EMEA, Mertens worked alongside large strategic hyperscale cloud customers, advising them on their infrastructure assets and developing new models to facilitate and enhance their cloud migration journey. “It’s an exciting time to be part of Virtus”, said Watkins. “We have seen amazing growth in cloud and digital transformation with the London data centre market now close to 1GW, having doubled every five years since 2010. Christina has joined our team to help drive our growth across EMEA. With her strong track record of strategic and decisive business leadership, as well as her extensive regional knowledge, it’s clear Christina will be a great asset to our company.” “We are living through a time of accelerated digital transformation”, said Mertens. “Delivering reliable, resilient and responsible digital infrastructure to customers is mission-critical and I’m really proud to be part of a company that has been leading the way in designing and operating cutting-edge data centres for more than 10 years.” www.networkseuropemagazine.com MOVERS AND SHAKERS 62Siemon has announced the retirement of distinguished engineer, Valerie Maguire, BSEE, following more than 30 years of service to the company and industry. Maguire began her Siemon career when structured cabling was still in its infancy, assembling connecting hardware on the production floor while pursuing her Bachelor of Engineering degree at the University of Connecticut. Since that time, Maguire has played an instrumental role in Siemon’s customer-focused innovation and advancing the industry. With expertise focused on balanced twisted-pair and optical fibre cabling and transmission, Maguire engineered solutions that raised the bar on the performance of 100-ohm balanced twisted-pair components in support of growing bandwidth needs. Her contributions included the integration of printed circuit boards with noise cancellation into outlets, test and qualification methods to ensure consistent patch cord modular plug terminations, and validation of the fundamental operation and performance of screened and shielded twisted-pair cabling. Her work resulted in the development of ground-breaking standards test methods and an industry patent. “I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to dedicate my career to this amazing industry and contribute to the establishment of standards-based digital technologies that are now improving lives and increasing efficiencies around the world,” says Maguire. “Working alongside world-class transmission and subject matter experts to drive innovation, all with the support of my Siemon family, has truly been an honour. While I look forward to starting my next chapter, I hope to watch the company’s continued success for many years to come.” Siemon Announces Retirement of Industry Icon Valerie Maguire Vertiv has announced changes to its Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) senior leadership team. The reshape of the team includes the appointment of Ana Maria Ciurea as VP, commercial operations, Peter Lambrecht as VP, sales, and Rastislav Jasenovsky as VP, operations for infrastructure and solutions (I&S), supporting Vertiv’s dedication to customer success in the market. Ciurea has driven the sales operations department at Vertiv in EMEA for the past four years as Sales Strategy and Operations Director and has been in the company for almost 15 years. In her new role as VP, commercial operations, she will continue to manage the sales operations function but with broader responsibilities, including oversight of end-to-end processes, enabling overall efficiency and optimal resource allocation. The newly created role will serve as a central point to enhance cross- functional effectiveness, and identify ways to optimise client service. Lambrecht will step up to VP, sales for the EMEA region, having served at the organisation for more than 20 years with positions that include IS/IT VP EMEA, Country Manager for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy, and VP, strategic accounts EMEA. In his new position, he will be responsible for leading product and service sales and go-to-market programmes for the company’s key accounts, national accounts and Vertiv’s channel partners across the EMEA region. Along with driving revenue, price initiatives and margin growth for all countries, Lambrecht will continue to lead and develop sales teams across the region, driving excellence programmes, tools, and sales management standards, to create an inclusive and innovative culture focused on growth. Jasenovsky has been with Vertiv for 19 years and has been instrumental in driving operations strategy and execution in EMEA. His appointment as VP, operations I&S EMEA, will strengthen the connection between sales and operations leaders and teams, to continue to improve customer service levels. Most recently serving as Senior Director Operations EMEA and General Manager for Slovakia, Jasenovsky will now serve as a key member of the EMEA leadership team, driving cohesion, and ultimately success, between other functions in the region. Vertiv Strengthens EMEA Leadership Team Mayflex Appoints Rhys Jones to the Security Sales Team Mayflex has appointed Rhys Jones to the role of Account Manager for Converged Technology with an emphasis on IP Security. Jones joins Mayflex from QED distribution where he was based for the last 5 years in both sales management and business development roles. Simon Steer, Director of Sales for Security at Mayflex commented, “We are delighted to welcome Rhys to the team, he has great knowledge of a wide variety of access control, CCTV systems and infrastructure which will be key to supporting our customers in his area.” Steer continued, “Rhys will be looking after customers in Cumbria, the Northeast and Yorkshire, together with internal support from Jessika Corbett and Peter Male on projects to ensure our customers receive the very best service and support particularly around our key security brands including Avigilon, Axis, Hikvision, Milestone, Mobotix, Paxton, Suprema, Wavestore and the recently launched Pelco.” Jones commented, “I’m very much looking forward to being part of the Mayflex team and being able to sell such a wide range of quality brands. I’m keen to get out and meet my customers and to start working with them to build long-lasting relationships to mutually grow our businesses.” Steer concluded, “In the first few weeks, Rhys will undergo a comprehensive induction to bring him up to speed on everything that is Mayflex and particularly around our security business.” MOVERS AND SHAKERS www.networkseuropemagazine.comwww.networkseuropemagazine.com 63 Do you have a mover or shaker to introduce? Contact editor@networkseuropemagazine.comNETWORKS EUROPE reaches a readership of 26,000 network infrastructure professionals throughout Europe, landing on the desks of data centre managers, facilities managers, CIOs, CTOs, ICT directors, consultants, network managers, integrators and many others in the data centre industry. NETWORKS EUROPE features editorial contributions from worldwide industry figureheads, ensuring that it's the world's best publication for information on all aspects of this constantly evolving industry. NETWORKS EUROPE The magazine for network and data centre professionals If you would like to contribute a feature article, please contact the editor, Laura Vallis at editor@networkseuropemagazine.com If you would like to advertise in any of the upcoming issues please contact sales@networkseuropemagazine.com The media pack for 2022 is available to download. Please click HERE 2022 EDITORIAL PROGRAMME SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER Copy deadline - 17th September Publication date - 5th October • The Remote Data Centre • Cooling • The Hybrid Data Centre NOVEMBER/DECEMBER Copy deadline - 19th November Publication date - 7th December • Energy Management • Connectivity and Cables • Data RecoveryNext >