A top financial holding company (TFHC) realized that to prosper in a rapidly changing and highly competitive environment they needed to provide responsive and reliable client services and foster an environment that would enable their employees to learn, grow, and be fulfilled in their work. In 2007, they were ranked #1 in customer service satisfaction among primary mortgage servicing companies, according to a nationwide study by J.D. Power and Associates. Additionally, they were ranked in Training Magazine's "Training Top 125" list for quality of employee training programs.

In early 2008, TFHC decided to migrate their two North Carolina data centers that supported 2000 locations in the Eastern US and Canada to a Cisco platform. "We embarked on this project to help us support our anticipated growth as well as provide our customers with future feature capabilities, additional tools, access, and utilities," the Operations Manager said.

They wanted to implement this new technology quickly and knew the best way to maximize their technology investment and reduce migration time, costs, and risks, was to train their technical staff effectively.

Unfortunately, the majority of their technical staff was not well versed on Cisco products. They required foundational and advanced-level Cisco training. "We wanted an experienced training partner who could quickly assess our technical team's current skill level and identify the baseline and job role training needed to migrate to this new network," TFHC's Operations Manager said. TFHC also needed a training provider who could deliver training within their timeframe, accommodate the large number of students, and provide any future functionality training that may be needed.

Global Knowledge was recommended to TFHC by its Cisco representative as a solid training provider experienced in designing and delivering customized training solutions. The migration-training project was broken into two phases. Phase one TFHC's core group of staff (approximately 24 people) trained quickly to ensure they were ready to support the initial data center migration in two locations. During phase two, the core team and remaining staff members trained on other products throughout 2008 and 2009.

Global Knowledge provided a program manager who acted as a single point of contact to manage key activities, coordinate resources, and schedule assessment interviews. Global Knowledge also included a Subject Matter Expert who conducted interviews with technical personnel and the management team to assess the current skill levels of the staff and deliver a curriculum map organized by job role. According to TFHC's Operations Manager, "Global Knowledge delivered a comprehensive Training Recommendation Report with assessment results, customized training outlines, and pricing."

The core team training was delivered based on the ROUTE and SWITCH courses, as a 5-day Cisco Workshop. Labs were developed and used by the team to aid preparation for the workshop and were utilized by the team after the workshop for reinforcement. All course modules were provided so the students could review them at a later date to further enhance their training experience. Several months later a CCNA Boot Camp was delivered to the core team.

TFHC and Global Knowledge continue plans by delivering CWENT/CWLMS, CIPT 1, and CVOICE e-Learning.

The Global Knowledge services enabled the company to reduce migration costs, increase project effectiveness, and reduce their risk of failure in migrating to a new network over a short period of time. Through a comprehensive, targeted training program TFHC's employees were able to receive the exact training they needed to support the new network platform and stay abreast of the latest technology. The organization continues to strengthen its position in the financial industry by providing solutions that have been requested by their clients, improving customer satisfaction, generating more sales, and providing a reliable network experience.

TFHC has been very pleased with the solution. According to its Data Center IT Director, "Global Knowledge understood our direction and requirements by developing a training program that helped us achieve our goals."