In a world driven by technology, the business environment changes frequently. This dynamic environment requires organisations to make quick and better decisions and make necessary changes based on their requirements. Unlike earlier times, long term strategies do not work anymore and there has to be an inherent agility in the way organisation formulate their strategies.

Technology is the game changer as well as the enabler that allows businesses to have a competitive advantage by forming winning strategies. Organisations that are aware of this phenomenon and are willing to adopt new technologies are better placed than their competitors. While technology has made it possible to access a large volume of data, the key is to identify useful pieces of information from this big data.

Business Intelligence is the process that enables organisations to identify, synthesize and extract meaningful information from a large volume of vague data. It will not be an exaggeration to say that it is similar to finding a needle in a haystack. There is a lot of data generated from external and internal sources. This big data consists critical information but due to its large volume, it is a difficult task to find the most relevant and meaningful information.

One of the most important function of the management is making decisions. The decisions need to be right and the process should be fast. However, important decisions cannot be based on hunches. There has to be concrete quantitative and qualitative information. This information is extracted from the big data chunks, analysed using analytical tools and is then presented to the management for decision making. Business Intelligence handles the entire process of extracting and analyzing raw data and converting it into meaningful information.
Due to the importance of these business and technical functions, business intelligence courses have a high weight-age in the job market. Companies prefer hiring employees who have a decent exposure to business intelligence functions either through work experience or relevant courses. Business Intelligence courses help prepare a job aspirant for the suitable jobs by developing relevant skills.

There are several Business Intelligence courses based upon the job specifications and requirements. These can be broadly classified into below categories:
a. Courses for Business Intelligence Administrators
b. BI Developers
c. Reporting Analysts
d. Data Analysts
e. Data Scientists
f. Information Workers
g. End Users

These courses cover aspects such as Data Warehousing, Data Mining, Management of Enterprise Data, Business Process Modelling, Business Process Analysis, Critical Performance Management, Predictive Analysis and addressing Management Issues pertaining to Business Intelligence.

Based upon one’s education qualifications, experience and job preferences, students can select the appropriate course for themselves. They can also choose from various platforms such as Microsoft or Oracle for their choices of Business Intelligence courses.

 
Technology has impacted every aspect of human lives. Technology which was almost non-existent a couple of decades ago are now used by billions of people around the globe and every day we see a new technology being introduced to use. Some of these are minor while some of them make a significant impact on our lives. Let’s have a look at some of the major technologies that will change the way live in the years to come.

Internet of Things

Internet of Things or the IoT is one of the most advanced technological breakthroughs that we have witnessed in the recent times. Internet is primarily used for communication and access to information. Moving a step forward, internet is now also being used to manage things around us. The technology has already existed for a while but it has gained traction in 2015 and will soon be a part of our lives. Internet will soon be used to control devices and manage things. Everything around us will be connected with each other through the internet. Soon you will be able to check the list of things in your refrigerator on your mobile device and based on the requirement can shop for it. There are several such applications of the Internet of Things that will be a part of our lives very soon.

3D Printing

3D Printing is expected to be the next big thing and has tremendous applications. The technology already has several commercial and industrial applications and soon it will be widely used for medical purposes. Medical students will be able to study 3D printed body parts and organs. 3D printed prosthetic limbs will be available shortly and these will be of far superior quality than the currently available prosthetic limbs. Research is underway for developing prosthetic ears, skin tissues, dental implants and even skin using 3D technology.

Cloud Computing

With the advances in mobile technology, people now use more than one device and also change them frequently. This has given rise to the requirement of easy sharing of data. Businesses operate on a global scale and require their employees to work on the same applications or information. It is also important that the information accessible to them is updated. Cloud computing has seen tremendous fillip in the recent years and 2015 has seen this technology grow exponentially. Companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple offer cloud computing solutions and it is fast becoming a part of our lives.

Driverless cars

Google has been testing driverless cars and there are several other car companies experimenting with driverless cars. Some of these companies have displayed their driverless cars in their respective expos this year and soon these will be running on our roads.

Wearables

The wearable industry is fast expanding and most of the large smartphone manufacturers have been introducing products such as smartwatches. Companies like Samsung and LG introduced their watches last year while Apple’s Watch was announced last year in September and was launched this year in April. In September 2015, at its annual fall event, Apple introduced several new updates and apps for its Watch. One of the most interesting app is iTranslate capable of translating words from over 90 languages.

Important Statistics about the eLearning Market for 2013 – Infographic
Would you be interested to know what are the TOP 10 Statistics about the eLearning Market?
http://elearningindustry.com/important-statistics-about-the-elearning-market-for-2013-infographic

The Top 10 statistics about the eLearning Market 2013 that should be highlighted are:
1. eLearning is a $56.2 Billion business and is likely to double in size before 2015.
2. The U.S. and Europe utilize 70% of the world’s eLearning, but Asia Pacific is gaining ground.
3. The fastest growing eLearning markets are Vietnam and Malaysia.
4. 77% of American Corporations use online learning.
5. 72% of companies surveyed report that eLearning keeps them on top of their industry changes.
6. In 2011, 51% of companies did at least one training session with eLearning to more than 50% of their employees.
7. Corporations save 50-70% when they replace instructor-based training with eLearning.
8. eLearning classes are generally 25-60% shorter in duration than traditional classes.
9. 23% of employees leave their jobs because the position lacks opportunity for development and training.
10. Online education is proven to increase knowledge retention by 25-60%.

Source: http://elearningindustry.tumblr.com/post/44775050791/important-statistics-about-the-elearning-market-for

GogoTraining announced yesterday that it will offer ISO/IEC 20000 Foundation and Associate Bridge Courses beginning in June 2013, rounding out it’s curriculum in the ISO/IEC 20000 topic area.

The ISO/IEC 20000: IT Service Management Foundation Bridge course offers you an expedited method of learning about ISO/IEC 20000, the international family of standards around Service Management, by recognizing your ITIL® Foundation certificate. Learn what needs to be in place to manage the Service Management processes and initiatives, and the contents, requirements and use of a Service Management System (SMS). Explore the fundamental concepts around what you ‘must’ do in an adapt and adopt initiative in Service Management.

The Associate Bridge course focuses on the Service Management System (SMS) – internationally accepted requirements for managing Service Management initiatives. These requirements, briefly covered in ITIL, are clearly documented and supported in the standard. Additionally, this course will focus on the similarities and differences between ISO/IEC 20000 and ITIL processes as well as the benefits of deploying the PDCA model.

The Associate Bridge course allows one to fast-track into the study of ISO/IEC 20000. Recognizing the student who has already gained a Foundation Certificate in ISO/IEC 20000 and who has earned at least two (2) ITIL® Practitioner (v2) or Intermediate (2007/2011) certificates, the requirements of the Associate certificate in ISO/IEC 20000 have been reduced.

This week in Network World there is a great article on Datacenter Transformation.  The rapid transitions occurring require people to really understand (1) the basics of data center equipment, from power to cooling to IT, (2) the impact of changes on energy efficiency, cost, and data center uptime, and (3) what can be done to facilitate and manage these changes.  Dave Cole has consolidated more than 20 years of experience into 18 hours of training that will allow you to understand how a data center works and specific steps you can take to improve energy efficiency, reduce costs, and improve operational efficiency in the data center.  Everyone from a new data center manager  to experienced professionals will benefit from this training.

Excerpts taken from The White House, Office of the Press Secretary on Monday, April 29, 2013.

Today, speaking at the White House Forum on Military Credentialing and Licensing, First Lady Michelle Obama will announce the IT Training and Certification Partnership, a new public-private partnership that will enable thousands of service members to earn industry-recognized information technology (IT) certifications before they transition from military service. Today’s announcement builds upon President Obama’s June 2012 announcement of partnerships with the manufacturing sector that enable service members to earn high-demand advanced manufacturing certifications, and the establishment of the Department of Defense’s Military Credentialing and Licensing Task Force. Additionally, the event is an extension of the First Lady’s challenge to our Nation’s Governors in February 2013 to take executive or legislative action to help our troops get the credentials they need to successfully transition to the civilian labor market by the end of 2015.

Industry leaders include Cisco Systems, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle, CompTIA, NetApp, HP, Futures Inc., Global Knowledge, GogoTraining and SANS Institute and Global Information Assurance Certification

GogoTraining is providing access to their online self-paced Information Technology training platform to help transitioning military personnel prepare for careers in the private sector. With the help of GogoTraining’s learning platform, experts bring their classroom courses to life online enabling service members to fit training into their schedule while still receiving the same high quality classroom content and support. GogoTraining courses and programs will help exiting personnel prepare for careers in computer programming, database administration, software and mobile application development, and obtain key certifications in areas such as CompTIA and Oracle.

Buckminster Fuller created the “Knowledge Doubling Curve”; he noticed that until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years. Today things are not as simple as different types of knowledge have different rates of growth. For example, nanotechnology knowledge is doubling every two years and clinical knowledge every 18 months. But on average human knowledge is doubling every 13 months.  According to IBM, the build out of  the “internet of things” will lead to the doubling of knowledge every 12 hours.

In a recent lecture at Harvard University neuroscientist Jeff Lichtman, who is attempting to map the human brain, has calculated that several billion petabytes of data storage would be needed to index the entire human brain. The Internet is currently estimated to be 5 million terabytes (TB) of which Google has indexed roughly 200 TB or just .004% of its total size. The numbers involved are astounding especially when considering the size of the human brain and the number of neurons in it.

A transition from the linear growth of human knowledge to the exponential growth of human knowledge has taken place.. According to researchers dealing with this information will necessitate the development of vastly more complex software, shareability, and artificial intelligence.

Author Clem Chambers, in a Forbes article on Amazon’s “Mechanical Turk” believes leading edge computer technology will be combined with artificial intelligence allowing collective problem-solving on a larger scale and the creation of vast amounts of data.

Industry Tap Into News, April 2013.

2011 is the latest version of ISO/IEC 20000 standard set dealing with IT Service Management. GogoTraining offers the Foundation and the Associate courses which provide an excellent basis for companies to implement and use IT Service Management according to the internationally accepted ISO/IEC 20000 standard. The programs developed by EXIN supplements the essence of ITIL® with the quality- and consistency- thinking of the ISO approach, and also adds role-based thinking to it. The EXIN IT Service Management qualification is an extremely practical exam program. With an ITSM certificate, you can show that you are able do a professional job of IT service management. Get a fresh start in 2013 – check out these courses on GogoTraining.

Revenge of the nerds?!

A report ranking the best jobs in 2013 is chock full of IT roles, with database administrator, systems analyst, software developer and Web developer achieving rare air.

According to the recent U.S. News and World Report findings, reported on recently in InfoWorld, those positions took up nearly half the “top ten” spots on the list. Computer programmer, IT manager and systems administrator roles cracked the top 25.

The ranking of 100 jobs was based on the hiring demand using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics findings and scored out through salary, job prospects, growth potential and other factors.

Though these factors don’t universally grade out at the high end for each and every IT job on the list (for example, IT manager roles rank high for stress level, but also top out on potential with a projected 18 percent employment growth rate in the next decade), the “in-your-face” presence of so many IT roles among the upper echelon of this list signals that, indeed, techies are in high demand these days.

Are you behind in newer technologies, or need a fresh career in IT? Look at GogoTraining’s curriculum offerings. Training can move your career in new directions.

Source: CompTIA IT Career Blog

Whether you’re an active job seeker in the ever-changing IT industry or an entrenched veteran in need of new challenges, your New Year’s resolutions are ready-made.

A clear takeaway from the recent article in CIO.com offering career resolutions is all IT pros need to evolve along with the industry. As organizations gear up to add staff in an IT job market expected to hit the ground running in the year to come, your organized competitors for those jobs are already doing much of the following:

• Expand your sphere of influence to understand the big-picture business side of the industry you target
• Chart out a career map which includes a skills analysis, plan to bridge skills gaps and network of peers and mentors
• Build a current, dynamic personal website to market your “brand”
• Keep on top of your social profile by searching for yourself to see what comes up, much like your prospective hiring manager would
• Proper interview follow-up can pay under-appreciated dividends
• Get out of the comfort zone with new classes, seminars and industry introductions

Check out GogoTraining’s expansive list of video based courses and try something new – shake it up!

Source: CompTIA IT Careers Blog