Cloud

To Make the Most of Your Multicloud Solution, Train Your People

Hybrid and multicloud solutions need a specialist’s attention, and that can come from within the organization.

Autumn is an associate editorial director and a contributor to BizTech Magazine. She covers trends and tech in retail, energy & utilities, financial services and nonprofit sectors.

With more than half of financial service organizations using a multicloud solution, it’s clear that more banks are embracing this route. And in such a highly regulated industry, the ability to customize storage and security needs is essential.

But to successfully navigate the intricacies of multicloud solutions, financial firms need to develop their own skills. Without in-house knowledge of the possibilities of these cloud solutions, financial institutions are leaving money and resources on the table — and potentially opening themselves to security concerns as well.

Partnering with a cloud management service is one way for a financial institution to gain access to skilled practitioners who can advise them on a path forward. But outsourcing might not be right for every institution, and even those that do work with a cloud management service will need enough knowledge to partner with one successfully.

Here are a few ways in-house IT departments can cultivate their skills to set up their organizations for success in hybrid and multicloud environments.

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Why Comprehensive Cloud Training Is Worth It

For IT leaders looking to sharpen their understanding of the cloud, CDW offers flexible workforce development programs designed to give your employees the skills they need to achieve mission-critical business outcomes, excel in their roles, and master multicloud technology. Participants can also choose from a range of cloud training sessions taught by experts.

How a Cloud Service Provider Can Help Train Your Team

Many cloud service providers offer extensive training, including certification programs, workshops, seminars and hands-on sessions that cover multicloud and hybrid systems.

Google Cloud Skills Boost, for example, trains professionals who are already versed in two other leading cloud technologies, AWS and Microsoft Azure. NetApp’s Certified Hybrid Cloud Architect designation requires learners to earn a certificate from Amazon, Google or Microsoft.

These programs are often suited toward practitioners who are already versed in one or more cloud environments.

However, Cisco’s multicloud specialist certification is a good option for beginners as it covers implementation, connectivity, configuration and security, so participants learn how a multicloud approach works and how to manage a multicloud environment.

Other providers may include multicloud education as a part of their broader certifications, such as the VMware Certified Professional - Cloud Management and Automation program.

LEARN MORE: How training your team can improve productivity in your organization.

Steps to Overcome Multicloud’s Challenges

Beyond training, IT leaders should also foster a culture of curiosity, so employees feel comfortable asking questions and engaging with new technology and systems.

“Building a homogenous learning culture also requires a consistent, ongoing commitment,” notes McKinsey in a recent article on upskilling and reskilling in the financial sector. “The more that a bank conceives of it as a journey rather than a one-time training, the better the results will be.”

Organizations can also encourage their employees to upskill by paying for certifications, such as the Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) or the Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK), according to the Society for Human Resource Management; or by simply encouraging employees to pursue these designations.

Incentivizing upskilling and reskilling in the form of peer education and cross-functional collaboration among IT, finance and operations teams reinforces the idea that success is built as an entity, not just by individuals. The benefit is clear: investing in employees and identifying their skill sets can result in a more robust, tech-savvy workforce.

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