Brightsolid, the hybrid cloud managed service provider, is aiming to become the most certified AWS consulting partner in Scotland following the roll-out of a significant people investment programme.
An innovative internal transformation programme has delivered development opportunities for all employees, with training and learning delivered through face-to-face and virtual learning, gamification, simulations, job rotations and hackathons. The programme is a key part of the Dundee-headquartered company’s growth strategy, which includes the creation of new hybrid cloud services.
Brightsolid’s chief executive, Elaine Maddison, who has been in post for 18 months, has placed people performance at the heart of the new strategy to maximise opportunities from public and hybrid cloud service models as organisations increasingly turn to public cloud environments.
Throughout 2019, Elaine has led on roll-out of the programme, underlining her long-held belief that all employees within technical businesses must hold technical certifications to achieve success.
Forty per cent of Brightsolid’s overall team is now AWS certified. By the end of 2020, all operational and engineering employees will have completed professional AWS certification exams, significantly upskilling the entire team, and contributing to an uplift in clouds skills within Scotland’s tech sector.
Elaine Maddison, Brightsolid CEO, said:
“The cloud market was evolving and change had to come. New services require new skills, so we’ve made our people the catalyst for our success. I know from experience that people are the instruments of change. We had to concentrate a significant amount of time and effort on people – on engagement, communications, culture and skills.
“It was important our approach met the needs of everyone in the business, recognising that everyone learns in different ways. We focused on creating a contextual learning approach, blending visual, immersive, direct learning and e-learning.
“Cloud skills in Scotland are scarce and in significant demand. To compete in today’s market, maintain pace with the rapidly evolving cloud market, and meet our customers’ changing requirements, upskilling is an absolute necessity. The programme is still in progress, but already we’re seeing the benefits with a more engaged workforce and a strong service culture. We’re also on track to achieve growth through more valuable contracts and a robust pipeline.”
People investment has been a key driver for the development of a new solutions portfolio supporting a hybrid cloud service proposition. In May this year, Brightsolid launched Cloud Foundations, which has been developed to plug a gap in the market for a ready-to-go, cost-effective and fully managed solution to simplify and accelerate the adoption of secure public cloud environments. It is believed to be the first product of its kind available in Scotland.
Elaine added:
“By investing heavily in upskilling our workforce, we are providing our customers with the cloud skills they need, but possibly don’t have in-house, enabling them to implement flexible and compliant cloud environments to support their business goals.”