{"id":18081,"date":"2019-11-20T09:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-11-20T08:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/?p=18081"},"modified":"2019-11-19T12:09:23","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T11:09:23","slug":"upskilling-employees-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-gb\/industry\/blog\/cross-industry\/2019\/11\/20\/upskilling-employees-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Building strong cloud skills for employees in 5 steps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft releases on average one new solution every three days. This rapid pace of innovation results in a wide portfolio of solutions that fit any strategy of any company.<\/p>\n

Organisations are transforming, becoming ever-more driven by innovation, and seeking to establish partnerships that will boost their value proposition and optimise internal IT. In the past few years, I\u2019ve been fascinated just how much can be done when there is a strong will to adopt new technology.<\/p>\n

Think of the first new clearing bank<\/a> in 250 years in UK \u2013 it runs exclusively in the cloud.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Think of Insurtechs like Shift Technology which helps insurance companies more effectively detect fraud. The diversity of business models that cloud solutions enable are limited only by imagination.<\/p>\n

The first step towards bringing imagination to reality is making sure an organisation possesses relevant cloud capabilities. While technologies like AI can provide direct benefit to the customer, every organisation needs to first establish strong fundamental cloud capabilities. Only then can they build advanced, customer-centric solutions on top of them.<\/p>\n

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Strong cloud capabilities represent well-organised knowledge and skills, which create and maintain scalable, secure, and transparent infrastructure. <\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Achieving this requires skills in technologies such as Platform-as-a-Service, Infrastructure as Code, and API integrations, among others.<\/p>\n

Learning new skills and engaging in meaningful training on a continuous basis is key to helping people across the organisation. Cloud competent organisations are aware of this. They realise the need for a robust process that allows them to operate with strong IT fundamentals.<\/p>\n

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BUILDING STRONG FUNDAMENTALS IN 5 STEPS<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

1. Assess current capability levels<\/h2>\n

If an organisation applies capability assessment frameworks, those can be inspected to evaluate current skills levels. If that\u2019s not the case, an organisation should establish a framework to continuously monitor relevant skills levels.<\/p>\n

It can be as simple as creating a heat map, as long as it provides a clear view that can be updated. Proposed methodologies for gathering information are online surveys and interviews for both groups and individuals.<\/p>\n

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2. Determine desired skills and knowledge<\/h2>\n

In alignment with overall business strategy, evaluate which skills your people need and, based on the capability framework, recognise where the gaps are.<\/p>\n

When it comes to establishing cloud fundamentals, most customers focus on\u2026<\/p>\n