AI Issue 11 2017

34 Acquisition International - November 2017 QuickStart helps organizations transform IT project performance and career growth through cognitive learning platform and multi-mode training. We spoke to Ed Sattar in order to find out more about the company and its recent success. uickStart is an IT Skills Learning Marketplace that optimizes project performance and career growth by personalizing learning experiences through online course subscriptions, instructor led training, and high impact mentoring. Furthermore, the firm works on hands-on lab experience in the areas of Application Development, Data Science, Cloud Computing, Dev Ops, IT Operations and Info Sec. Its customers range from Fortune 500 (B2B) to individual (B2C) customers. Ed tells us more about the firm and its specialist area of financial services. “Here at QuickStart, Financial Services is one of our core industries that we specialize in. Our customers in this area face the challenges of project performance and talent transformation in order to keep up with the pace of introduction of new technologies. We address that challenge by providing IT technical training to employees in the latest technologies. IT professionals who want to do highly specialized certifications, and non-IT professionals who either want to switch to IT through learning new skills, or want to gain the skills needed to use the software systems most relevant to their job descriptions. In short, we work with people who need IT training.” Significantly, customer relationships and trust between the client and the team at QuickStart are all important factors in the company’s recent achievements. Ed explains how he ensures right from the start that the outcome of the project will meet the needs of both the client and the business. “Interestingly, the IT industry has one of the lowest employment rates across all the functions within the Financial Services Industry, and this is just one of the challenges that financial services firm Company: QuickStart Contact: Ed Sattar Contact Email: [email protected] Address: 6801 N Capital of Texas, Hwy Suite 150, Austin, 78731, USA Phone: 001 512 633 6130 Website: www.quickstart.com Learning for Life Q 1711AI72 face. Another challenge most firms face is the introduction and adoption of new technologies and employee retention. Our objective is to increase employee retention, increase their ROI and reduce their recruitment cost through hiring and turn over. “Basically, we solve this by offering them the depth and breadth of IT technical and workforce productivity training courses in the disciplines of Data Science, Dev Ops, InfoSec and Cloud Computing through a subscription format which includes online and virtual instructor led courses, along with a cognitive learning format which creates a high impact personalized learning experience through social learning, mentoring and cognitive learning.” There are a variety of attributes which are essential to possess in order to succeed in the IT and financial services industry. Ed tells us what he believes are the key characteristics which makes firms and people successful, besides general competency. “Besides being competent, one has to be persistent and have their finger on the pulse to do well in this industry. You have to be able to make educated predications about where the IT sector is headed, so that you can make the right calls at the right time, and meet the needs of the market.” Ed is particularly keen to provide his thoughts on the state of the industry currently, alluding to many challenges which both QuickStart and the industry are facing, whilst also explaining how some of the other industries are going strong. “Presently, there are four challenges in the IT Department of financial services, and of them has already been mentioned in regard to employment rates. Throughout the industry, we are fighting the lowest employment rate compared to any other department, and it is well below the national average. Alongside this, we are also working on new ways of keeping hold of our talent and examining and minimizing the costs of recruiting new people. “Moreover, there is a distinct flight risk of people which increases project risks, and the introduction of new technologies is forcing companies to train their employees to learn new skills, as well as hire some of those who are already well-versed in the market. “On the other hand, the eLearning industry is going strong and will keep growing in the coming years. “...we are looking forward to the use of artificial intelligence and transforming the way IT Training is personalized, delivered, consumed and retained which will help us securing a great chunk of the market share within the IT Training space in US and other parts of the world.”