How you can make the ebusiness grade

Bodnar volunteered for electronic learning courses provided by his employer, hoping that it would allow him to become more involved in web development.

"The implications of not doing the course were of being left behind and closing off future career options," says Bodnar. "Without this kind of training, I would have been stuck with Cobol whereas a lot of new jobs today are web-based."

Carpenter Technology, a US-based chemical supplies company with annual sales of more than $1bn, is one of the first firms to use IBM's e-Learning services. Carpenter made a strategic decision to move its operations online, developing a web-based procurement service, allowing customers to order specialised alloys for industrial use.

Carpenter's mainframe background meant that none of the existing IT staff had the relevant skills to realise the company's vision. "We knew that the IT department had to support ebusiness, and it was left to us to come up with a staffing strategy," says manager of business systems, Frank Bommentre.

The course involves a combination of web-based training and formal classroom lectures, held at an IBM resource centre an hour's journey from Carpenter's offices. Initial classes focused on Java and web development, moving on to cover object-oriented programming, Java Visual Age and server side processing. The service is likely to be extended throughout the company's 150-strong IT department.

Bodnar believes that these skills are vital if he is to achieve his long-term aim of programming his own web-based applications, something that was previously limited to tinkering on a PC in his garage at home. "Whereas mainframes are procedural, the web is component driven. It's a different way of thinking," he says.

The career opportunities opened through the training are the major benefit of the course, says Bodnar. "Keeping up with new knowledge and technology is essential in this profession," he says.

The classroom-based courses are often residential, with the most recent course taking a week to complete. "It's pretty tough because I have a young family to consider," he says. "Even for short courses, the travel is pretty tough, although worth it overall."

KPMG has designed a crash course in internet studies for everyone in the firm's consulting division - from administrative assistants to senior partners. The curriculum covers everything from copyright law to using the web to manage inventory. Known as Internet 101, the rationale behind the course is that if KMPG wants to work with and advise ebusinesses, then it must practise what it preaches and adopt those working methods itself. "We have to embed the internet into everything we do," says Sheryl Schwartz, the KPMG partner who devised the course curriculum. "It's a credibility thing."

Staff must complete the course to progress to additional training courses and, although resits are offered to those who fail first time, so far all employees who have taken the test have passed in three or fewer attempts.

Despite his obvious enthusiasm for the course, even Rowling admits there are potentially serious implications for those staff who don't make the grade. "There's no formal censure for those employees who don't complete the course but there is a limit to what other ebusiness training they have access to," he says. And although to date no one has refused to participate in the ebusiness training scheme, Rowlings adds: "There would have been questions of commitment, naturally." Besides, those students who don't complete the course are not eligible for more advanced classes, and this may hinder their career prospects.

Persuading 1500 UK consultants and technologists to spare 50 hours for training was still a headache, however. "We set people a deadline to complete the work, but there are still some people who didn't manage to find the time," Rowling says.

Internet 101 is a key element in KPMG's positioning on ebusiness; take a look at the firm's balance sheet and the impetus behind the ebusiness push is clear. In 1999, KPMG earned $680m from ebusiness consulting, representing 36 per cent of total revenues. Schwartz claims that there's more to it than simply fuelling the Big Five firm's bottom line; she says offering training in ebusiness skills is a joker card in the staff retention game.

"We're making an investment in our employees," says Schwartz. "We're telling them we want to keep them up to speed."

The biggest benefit, has been the improvement in company morale. "It's amazing to see people who didn't have any involvement with IT discussing how issues like public key infrastructure and encryption can affect businesses," says Rowling.

The Internet 101 site, developed by Cisco Systems, builds into an interactive course with virtual lectures complete with instructors, charts and graphs - via a small video box. All 1500 UK consultants completed the course within three months.

Ebusiness training does, however, have an unfortunate side effect that Rowling wishes the firm had considered earlier. "The lesson we learned was to be careful not to over-hype ebusiness," he says. "If you convince people that ebusiness is 'it' there is always the risk of them thinking that their existing skills are somehow worthless."

Services giant ICL implemented its e-SP ebusiness training following the signing of an alliance with Microsoft in 1998. The alliance meant that ICL employees would receive formal training in the use and development of Microsoft applications. The training was extended to include ebusiness following the launch of ICL's e-consulting practice in 1999.

ICL's internal ebusiness training division, KnowledgePool, developed the course, which ICL believes will cost £100m over the next three years. All 4400 new recruits in that time will enter the e-SP programme.

New recruits were first to be offered the training, although it will be extended in August this year to include 3000 further employees in 18 countries. Shearsby, who joined ICL as a graduate trainee in 1999, was one of the first to complete the training.

The option of ebusiness training was a major factor in Shearsby's decision to join the company, and in hindsight feels that it has allowed him to combine technical understanding with administration and business skills, that will sdspeed up his career progress. The course itself was hard work, Shearsby adds, particularly when combined with his day-to-day workload.

"Planning around work commitments and finding the time to read text books was the single hardest thing," he says. "It takes a lot of organisation and commitment."

The e-SP course combines home study with classroom-based teaching. Shearsby completed the course part-time, studying one day a week for six months. The training began with ebusiness and consulting basics, moving on to technical courses covering Visual Basic, SQL Server, MCSD/E (Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer and Engineer) and application service provider models.

After passing the initial exams, Shearsby went on to train in the use of Internet Information Server, enterprise management and mail server technology. He was also trained in accompanying business skills such as contract negotiation, sales and IT consulting.

The advantage of the course, Shearsby says, is that it includes an industry-wide recognised professional qualification in the form of MCSE. "This will improve my CV and increase my chances of working on new projects when they become available," he says.

The MCSE qualification also means that Shearsby has been able to progress from general graduate training into his preferred business unit - local government - within ICL. "It also puts me in a great position for new roles involving Windows 2000 and Exchange 2000," he says.

The combination of classroom learning with work experience also allows students to try their skills in a real world environment.

So even though much of the technical teaching focused on Microsoft applications, Shearsby was able to apply to gain parallel experience with Lotus Notes and Novell. In addition to acquiring business and technical skills, e-SP offers employees the chance to raise their profile within the company - especially important for new employees. "It was a good way of meeting colleagues, building contacts and maximising my exposure within ICL," says Shearsby.

The extended training is essential for ICL to continue expanding in this market, explains Anna Ruewell, HR and resourcing projects manager at the company. "The programme is designed to reflect current business activities and ensures that ICL possesses the specialist skills required by the market," she says. Most students pass the first round of exams within two attempts, which Ruewell says is higher than most MCSE-based courses. "It is a testimony to the hard work and enthusiasm of the staff."