Global Knowledge March-April 2022

Cisco’s new ‘Broadband Index’ study has revealed how the success of hybrid work hinges on the quality and availability of the internet, with 75% of hybrid workers demanding improvements in the level of service provided.

As the growth in hybrid working continues, with numerous studies indicating it is here to stay, undoubtedly one of the most frustrating aspects is slow broadband. 

Cisco’s recent Broadband Index report, which surveyed almost 60,000 workers across 30 international markets about their home broadband access, quality and usage, leaves little doubt that services need to improve.

Overall, the report underlines the dependence on high performance internet access, with findings that include:

• 59% of households sustain three or more people online at any one time, typically using some form of mobile technology including their mobile phones or a 4G or 5G hub, with fibre-optic broadband used by 16%.
• 84% of respondents around the world go online from home for at least four hours per day.

The importance of high-quality broadband connectivity is also reflected in the fact that nearly half of the workforce now relies on their internet connectivity to work from home or run their own business. This is especially critical for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who are unlikely to have the same level of resources and IT infrastructure as larger businesses.

Another important factor for hybrid workers is a high level of security. Irrespective of their location, employees need to have confidence in their ability to connect to their company’s networks and applications, accessing private data through multiple devices, via public and private networks, which means that safety and security are just as critical as speed and reliability.

In fact, the study reveals that more than half of people who work remotely full time or in a hybrid scenario would be willing to pay more to ensure they have a safe broadband connection.

Jonathan Davidson, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Mass-Scale Infrastructure Group at Cisco reinforced this point, saying: “Secure, high-quality, reliable internet is critical to make hybrid work successful.”

Revealed - new certifications and the overall benefits of AWS training and accreditation

AWS has announced important developments in two new qualifications, at the same time as the significant benefits of AWS certification and training are identified in a study of learners.

Let’s firstly take a look at the new certifications and the range of skills they are seeking to validate.

AWS Certified: SAP on AWS – Specialty: This new offering is aimed at those professionals who are involved in designing, implementing, migrating, and operating SAP workloads on AWS. The demand for such individuals is certainly growing with estimates indicating there are currently more than 5,000 customers running SAP workloads on AWS.

It’s recommended that candidates have five or more years of SAP experience with one or more years of working with SAP on AWS. For those who meet these requirements, the certification will address the following:

• Designing an SAP solution that runs in the AWS Cloud in adherence with the AWS Well-Architected Framework.
• Designing an SAP solution that runs in the AWS Cloud in adherence with SAP certification and support requirements.
• Implementing new SAP workloads on AWS.
• Migrating existing SAP workloads to AWS.
• Operating and maintaining SAP workloads on AWS.

Registration for this exam is already open, with exam delivery having started on the 26^th of April.

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam: This is a new version of the established certification exam of the same name, with updated content that reflects the latest in best practices for architecting on the AWS Cloud.

The updated exam is intended for individuals who perform in a solutions architect role. The target candidate should have at least one year of hands-on experience designing cloud solutions that use AWS services. Successful candidates will be expected to demonstrate the following range of skills:

• Using AWS technologies to design solutions based on the AWS Well-Architected Framework.
• Designing solutions that incorporate AWS services to meet current business requirements and future projected needs.
• Designing architectures that are secure, resilient, high-performing, and cost-optimised.
• Reviewing existing solutions and determining improvements.

The new, updated exam will be available from the 30^th of August 2022, meaning that the last day to take the current version of the exam will be the 29^th of August 2022.

Benefits of AWS training and certification

As you can see from above, AWS is constantly looking to deliver a range of new educational offerings. But what exactly are the benefits you can expect to achieve from taking an AWS training course or earning an AWS certification?

In order to quantify the value of its programs, AWS recently commissioned a survey of more than 1,000 learners from around the world. The respondents came from technology areas such as from IT operations, cybersecurity and application development, as well as lines-of-business (LOBs), including sales, marketing and finance

Entitled ‘Training and Certification Help Learners Thrive in an Increasingly Cloud-first World’, here’s a flavour of some of the main benefits to emerge from the study:

• Improved productivity: 84% of learners said AWS training improved their on-the-job efficiency and 83% reported improved effectiveness. Similarly, 80% said AWS certifications boosted their efficiency, whilst 83% reported improved effectiveness.
• Increased operational skills: 85% of learners saw an improvement in their operational skills that far exceeded their expectations as a result of AWS training and c Interestingly, 89% of LOB respondents reported that AWS training and/or certifications helped them drive innovation with cloud services, whilst they also saw an improvement in their ability to better collaborate with technical teams.
• Greater earnings potential and job advancement: 69% of respondents reported higher earnings as a result of AWS training, and 74% reported the same as a result of earning AWS c Additionally, more than 90% of respondents credited AWS training and certification programs as a key reason for being selected to work on special cloud projects, thereby increasing their visibility with leadership.

Overall, the research clearly illustrates how AWS training and certifications can deliver a range of benefits to learners, not only in terms of enhanced knowledge and skills through which to leverage AWS Cloud services but also in relation to improved effectiveness and higher earnings.

You can find out more about our full range of AWS certifications at:

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certifications | Global Knowledge

Multi-cloud grows but managing costs remains a challenge

New research into cloud usage confirms the growing adoption of a hybrid approach, whilst the lack of skilled resources and an inability to manage cloud-related spend are cited as major concerns.

The new ‘Flexera 2022 State of the Cloud Report’, which is now in its 11^th year, reveals major insights and trends in the rapidly evolving cloud market.

One of the key facts to emerge is that while multi-cloud strategies remain dominant, most organisations are adopting a hybrid approach typically utilising a mix of various public and multiple private clouds.

The survey also confirms that the top challenges faced by users of cloud services are security, a lack of resources and expertise, and managing cloud spend.

Concerns about cloud security are, of course, well documented, whilst the lack of resources is also frequently cited as a major worry as more and more organisations expand their cloud footprint and the demand for skilled staff grows. However, the struggle to control cloud spend is an interesting one that is only recently emerging as a significant issue.

The survey’s respondents reported that their public cloud spend was over budget by an average of 13%, whilst also indicating that they expected their cloud spend to further increase by 29% in the next twelve months. Unsurprisingly, therefore, it’s becoming more critical to get a better handle on cloud-related forecasting and cost optimisation.

The reality is that many organisations continue to waste significant cloud spend, which is becoming more critical as cloud costs continue to rise. Worryingly, respondents estimated that their organisations waste 32% of cloud spend.

The concerns about costs are reinforced by further research undertaken by CloudBolt, where 80% of respondents admitted to struggling to achieve comprehensive visibility into costs and spend across all tools, resources and clouds. This lack of visibility across a highly complex multi-tool, multi-cloud architecture frequently results in organisations not knowing their cloud-related costs – or how to optimise them.

Little wonder then, that the need for FinOps is growing rapidly. According to the FinOps Foundation “FinOps is an evolving cloud financial management discipline and cultural practice that enables organisations to get maximum business value by helping engineering, finance, technology and business teams to collaborate on data-driven spending decisions.”

As cloud spend is wasted and optimisation remains a priority, so FinOps is increasing in importance, with the drive to achieve maximum business value from organisations’ investments in the cloud gathering pace.

Other major findings from the Flexera report include:

• SMBs are experiencing a significant uptake of usage and spend on the cloud.
• Container use is becoming increasingly mainstream, particularly in relation to the application of Docker and Kubernetes. However, organisations are facing a number of challenges in their use of containers, not least a lack of internal resources with the necessary expertise and difficulties in migrating traditional applications to containers.
• And finally, it is apparent that increasing numbers of organisations are now taking a centralised approach to cloud. As organisations adopt cloud-first strategies, many are creating a central cloud team or a cloud centre of excellence (CCOE) tasked with providing centralised controls, tools and best practices.

Microsoft reveals new plans for the hybrid workforce as employees seek greater flexibility

Microsoft has announced how it intends to better support the growing demand for hybrid and remote working, at the same time as new research reveals employee are seeking greater flexibility in their working arrangements.

As work has changed dramatically due to the global pandemic, so it has become clear that many employees want flexible and remote options to stay. It’s no surprise, therefore, that Microsoft has revealed plans on how it intends to support hybrid and remote working through a range of enhancements to Windows 365 along with new features and updates to Windows 11.

Key to this move is removing boundaries between the PC and the cloud via a number of integrations. These include:

• Windows 365 Switch - allows for seamless movement between your Cloud PC and local desktop just as easily as you can currently move between different desktops using the Task Switcher.
• Windows 365 Boot – provides the ability to boot straight to your Windows 365 Cloud PC in just one step.
• Windows 365 Offline – a planned capability that will enable users to work on their Cloud PCs even when disconnected from the Internet and later reconnect and automatically resync with the Windows 365 service without data loss. 
• A new management functionality in Microsoft Endpoint Management (MEM) - this will bring together a range of endpoint and security management tools into a single cloud-based solution, enabling employees to access company resources from their personal Windows device while maintaining security and privacy.
• A new Windows 11 File Explorer - which includes the ability to pin files and create tabs, and also offering improved search capabilities to the tool.

Whilst on the subject of hybrid and remote working, Microsoft’s recent ‘Work Trend Index’ report provides some interesting insights into how the global workforce has reacted to these developments over the past couple of years.     

The report, based on a survey of 31,000 people in 31 countries, reveals that 53% of employees now place a greater importance on health and wellbeing over work than before the pandemic. As a result, they are increasingly likely to consider switching to remote/hybrid working or changing jobs in the coming year, in turn meaning that organisations will also need to be more flexible and prioritise the well-being of employees in order to retain talent.

The survey polled employees on their views about working remotely all of the time compared to adopting the hybrid approach of working partly at home and partly at an office.

The results were a bit of a mixed bag, though they reinforced the overall wish of employees to have greater flexibility. For example, 51% of employees who were already working in a hybrid way confirmed they would consider switching to purely remote work, whilst 57% of the employees who were working remotely admitted they would consider switching to the hybrid model.

The report also found that 43% of employees are somewhat or extremely likely to consider changing jobs in the coming year. The top reasons for quitting existing jobs were personal wellbeing or mental health and work-life balance.

Flexible learning options

One of the knock-on effects of the growth of hybrid and remote working is the increasing requirement for professionals to access high quality training, irrespective of their location.

For those seeking to develop their Microsoft skills, Global Knowledge offers a range of virtual and on-demand courses. So, if you are looking to acquire new skills or prepare for a Microsoft accreditation from the location of your choice, the following offerings will certainly be of interest to you.

GK Polaris: An unlimited virtual classroom and on-demand subscriptions program that provides over 100 Microsoft Virtual Classroom Live courses and preparation for over 40 Microsoft certifications. More details can be found at:

Prep for Over 40 Microsoft Certifications with GK Polaris Subscription | Global Knowledge

Elite Total Access Collection for Microsoft: This collection provides learners with access to around 100 instructor led courses and 500 challenge labs over a 12 month period for a single fee, covering popular enterprise applications such as Azure and Microsoft 365. For more information go to:

Elite Total Access Collection for Microsoft | Global Knowledge