Summary
At Vertikal6, new hires start out as apprentices and work their way into Level 1 technician roles, a process that includes earning certifications. Investing in IT training has made all the difference in helping Vertikal6 team members develop their skill sets and adapt to the constantly changing IT industry.
By building an IT training program with incentives for earning certifications, Vertikal6:
- Increased employee retention
- Increased employee morale
- Improved customer satisfaction
- Increased first-time exam pass rates to 100%
Invest in Your People and They’ll Stay
Rick Norberg, the CEO of Vertikal6, had long heard the argument some MSPs use against building a training program for their technical staff: “What if we train our people and they leave?” More important to him was the inverse of that argument: “What if we don’t train them and they stay?”
The Math on Internal Training Programs for MSPs
Rick did the math on building an IT training program for his MSP. He acknowledged that some employees may leave the company, taking with them the certifications and training they received at Vertikal6. But a technical staff of untrained, long-term employees would always be more detrimental than a trained one — even if not all of them stick around for long.
Paying for Certs and On-The-Job Training Wasn’t Enough
Vertikal6 went through several iterations of their training program before finding the right combination of key components:
- On-the-job training
- Paying for employee certification exams
- Internal training
- Incentivizing certification with career progression
- CBT Nuggets training
From Apprentice to Certified Pro
“When we first started with the apprenticeship program, we didn’t have CBT Nuggets. There was a massive failure rate when it came to certifications. Vertikal6 paid for the apprentices’ first exam, but unfortunately the first exam was going to waste because they weren’t prepared,” Vertikal6 training manager Jenna Barboza explained.
Real-World Results: 100% Pass Rate for Exams
“We’ve had a really high success rate … 100% pass rate for people who’ve gone through CBT Nuggets’ training and then our program. We’re doing really well,” said Joe.
“The only way to make yourself more valuable is to increase the breadth and depth of your capabilities.”
Rick Norberg
CEO, Vertikal6
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