Global Knowledge provides solutions to a variety of training needs, from the standard to the most complex custom solution. There have been many instances where Global Knowledge was the only solution for a customer who needed a large, complex training program implemented with both speed and quality. This section describes some of the stories behind the solutions that we've provided companies around the world.
MCP Certification Program Produces Windows XP Experts for Japan Business Computer Company
Profile: Japan Business Computer Company (JBCC)
Japan Business Computer Company (JBCC), based in Tokyo, uses its deep understanding of business strategy and vision to provide total business solutions from consulting to business architecture, management, and maintenance, to its customers. Under the theme "JBCC VALUE," JBCC aims to become the best service company in customer satisfaction through the application of its values: Customer First, Professionalism, and Speed and Execution.
Situation: Creating a Windows 2000 Expert Staff
Until recently, JBCC's concentration was on hardware systems. Over time, their focus shifted to a combination of software, operating systems, and application components, making it necessary for a hardware engineer to have an understanding of Windows technology as a baseline skill.
JBCC began targeting its system and customer engineers to maintain the customer's system for Windows-related training in 1995. JBCC immediately began to make progress toward building Windows NT competencies by largely increasing the number of employees with Windows NT Server and Professional MCP certifications. However, when the new Windows 2000 operating system was released, the same group of employees needed to upgrade their skills.
JBCC's Windows technical training aimed at acquiring skills and knowledge, and they conducted it as so-called internal research with the help of Global Knowledge. Now, however, Masaru Kono, manager of skill development, has set a requirement that employees gain their MCP certification as their final training objective.
"There have been a number of employees who may already have the requisite knowledge and skills to get their MCP, but they lose motivation in the process. Before they know it, they start slipping, even before they take the exam," says Kono. "At the same time, among the engineers, there is a rising number of people who want to have something to show for the skills and knowledge they've worked for. The trick is to make a direct connection between knowledge and credentials, and I want that connection to be the training for JBCC's professionalism value."
Solution: Global Knowledge's Windows 2000 MCP Boot Camp
The response to Kono's issue was to implement a program that could shift the skills proficiency of Windows NT MCP professionals to earning their Windows 2000 MCP certification. Global Knowledge proposed an MCP Boot Camp, including pre-assessments and lectures to Live Labs and the certification exams. Global Knowledge aimed to create a short-term certification acquisition program by coupling Global Knowledge Classroom Learning with a locally developed software testing system called e-Global Education System (eGES). "We were particularly attracted to the ability to have everyone prepared for the MCP exam as the final step of this program," says Kono. "From the perspective of maintaining employee motivation, the boot camp was ideal."
For JBCC, the Global Knowledge MCP Boot Camp focused on the Windows 2000 server. By the boot camp's final day, the students were prepared to take the MCP exams right from the classroom environment in which they had been working. An instructor of JBCC's choosing taught the course, and content was reinforced through the use of daily self-paced practice exam questions that assessed the students' progress.
"They get used to the (test) problems because of their exposure to them during the class. That's really the value of eGES," says Kono. "And it creates a visual representation of the practice test results. Students can also catch a glimpse of each other's results; it seems to have heightened their sense of competition."
Results: 73% Exam Pass-Rate
The students who took the MCP Boot Camp achieved a pass rate of 73% for first-time exam takers, and those who didn't pass were soon asking Kono for approval to retake the exams. "Through short-term intensive study, Global Knowledge's system of building up students to complete the MCP exam on the last day of class was a good way to foster group thinking and heighten motivation. All of the students who took the class are in fact showing how eager they are to try for the Windows Professional exam next."
"While this class certification pass rate is a high 73%, the MCP Boot Camp has been very well received in areas that cannot be measured by numbers. For example, all of the students have become increasingly proactive. The shift to student-centered training has raised the professional awareness of our employees. Just as understanding English grammar does not equal the ability to hold conversations in English, I can empathize with Global Knowledge's thinking that memorization of simple knowledge and theory does not translate into expertise or proficiency in information technology. We have to take the training for practical skills very seriously," said Kono. He is satisfied with the results of the MCP Boot Camp, and has already decided to work with Global Knowledge again for next year's program: training for a new group of MCP Certification seekers, efficient IT training for a dispersed workforce in the local area. Global Knowledge will continue to work with JBCC, a company that has always taken a broad, high-level view of professional development.
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