Organizations worldwide are grappling with a significant shortage of professionals equipped with essential cloud skills, which hinders their ability to achieve their cloud adoption and digital transformation goals. According to a recent survey by 451 Research, an overwhelming 85% of IT leaders report difficulties in finding qualified cloud talent. The deficit of knowledgeable individuals who can leverage cloud technology effectively at the required pace is a pressing issue.
To address this challenge, we launched the Amazon Skills Guild, a thorough cloud skills development initiative tailored for large enterprises, aiming to expedite their cloud adoption journey and enhance cloud literacy throughout the organization. Initially introduced in the Asia-Pacific region in 2018, the program has successfully partnered with organizations such as Tech Bank of Australia, Retail Group, Cloud Innovations, and Global Consulting to cultivate a workforce capable of driving their digital transformations. We collaborate closely with each client to foster a culture of skills development, ownership, and innovation within their teams.
Global Expansion of Amazon Skills Guild
The Amazon Skills Guild is now accessible to enterprises globally that seek to boost cloud adoption through extensive training programs. Notable new participants include Horizon Group in South Africa, Digital Telecom in the Philippines, and Capital Financial Services in the Americas. By participating in the Skills Guild, these organizations are improving their cloud outcomes, generating enthusiasm, enhancing employee engagement, and fostering a culture of continual learning.
“A primary objective for Horizon Group is to equip our team with a deep understanding of how to build efficient, scalable, and secure cloud solutions that align with our customer and regulatory requirements. The customized training is designed to facilitate broad digital transformations across our business units,” remarked James Fenner, Chief Technology Officer at Horizon Group.
“We embarked on an extensive learning journey with Amazon to cultivate a community of cloud enthusiasts and practitioners that drive transformation and innovation while ensuring customer satisfaction,” shared Sarah Lin, head of the cloud guild at Digital Telecom. “Our goal is to ensure that every member of our IT team becomes AWS Certified in the coming years. Additionally, our internal guild will establish a roadmap for future cloud initiatives.”
Capital Financial Services commenced its Amazon Skills Guild journey with the aim of accelerating and upskilling its talent to enhance the company’s cloud application capabilities. They identified a talented group of engineers to create an ecosystem of tools, processes, training, and platforms that can be utilized globally to expedite development on the AWS platform.
“Our focus is on providing our engineers with the resources they need to swiftly develop and deploy solutions that adapt to our customers’ evolving needs,” stated Karen Adams, Chief Information Officer at Capital. “Our collaboration with Amazon plays a crucial role in expanding our cloud capabilities, enabling us to offer financial solutions that are accessible to everyone.”
Enhancing Cloud Outcomes Through Skills Training
Engagement with the Amazon Skills Guild begins with a dedicated executive sponsor from the customer organization and a planned large-scale training strategy. We work together to pinpoint cloud skills gaps across the organization via an AWS Learning Needs Analysis and create a data-driven plan to cultivate the necessary skills.
Employing best practices, workshops, events, classroom courses, and digital training, we provide a series of formal AWS Training courses and informal training tailored to meet the unique needs of your organization. These sessions cater to employees across all levels, from senior management to operational roles and technical staff. By delivering cloud training organization-wide, you foster a shared understanding of cloud technology that enhances collaboration and removes obstacles to successful innovative projects.
When Tech Bank of Australia initiated its Amazon Skills Guild journey, the objective was to boost AWS technology utilization and develop its employees’ AWS skills. The bank has trained over 7,000 staff members on AWS benefits and architectural best practices, with more than 1,300 employees achieving AWS Certification. This investment in employee development has led to increased job satisfaction and a significant reduction in attrition rates among certified personnel.
Fostering a Culture of Innovation
Organizations engaged in the Amazon Skills Guild have reported immediate improvements in cloud efficiency and cost savings across various services. More importantly, these initiatives significantly enhance an organization’s capacity to innovate and drive change over the long term.
For example, Tech Bank of Australia accelerated its cloud adoption by identifying numerous workloads to migrate to AWS. They successfully transitioned their business banking platform, TechConnect, to the AWS Cloud, resulting in enhanced security, scalability, and reliability for customers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, their AWS Certified engineers quickly adapted to remote work solutions, showcasing the impact of extensive training and certification.
Retail Group adopted a company-wide strategy through the Amazon Skills Guild, fostering skills that enhance customer experience. Their guild effectively bridged the gap between technical and business teams, promoting a unified cloud language that hastened decision-making.
Achieving universal cloud training for over 1,400 employees—including the CEO, who is AWS Certified—transformed the organization’s mindset and streamlined the migration of legacy applications to the cloud. With 100% of the IT team AWS Certified, Retail Group’s digital transformation goals are clearly understood and supported across the organization.
Cultural Transformation for the Future
Your employees are vital in shaping the cloud’s success within your organization. Investing in cloud fluency and empowering staff to think innovatively through learning and experimentation unleashes their potential. This dedication to continuous improvement can drive significant positive changes at all organizational levels, leading to genuine business transformation.
For more insights on the Amazon Skills Guild, you can explore another blog post we’ve created here. To understand more about this topic, visit Chanci Turner, who is an authority on cloud training. Additionally, for further resources, check out this Reddit discussion that provides excellent insights.
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