Published on November 30th, 2017 | by Sunit Nandi

4 Essential IT Courses for Your Employees

Many of us can still recall a time where IT skills were considered to be highly specialist. Of course, there are still IT professionals and the average person knows as much as they need to in order to use their computer. The fact that computers are now far more user friendly than they used to be (when was the last time you had to program your own software?) means that it is much easier for the average person to develop their computing skills to a reasonably high level than it used to be.

This is a real boon for businesses, the advantages that computers offer to business were once not entirely appreciated; it took a while for the place of computers within a business or organisation to be broadly accepted. Of course, nowadays we can’t imagine a business functioning properly without access to a decent IT system.

We are all so used to managing digital lives, and using computers for even the simplest of day-today tasks, that it is sometimes easy to forget that there is much more to a computer than the tasks that we individually use them for. Within the business environment there are clear advantages to encouraging good IT literacy from your staff, not least of all because you will be able to greatly expand the range of skills which you have at your disposal.

In this article we take a look at four of the best IT courses you can send your employees on. These courses will reinvigorate your team and help to bring new knowledge and skills to the workplace.

Excel

Might as well get the most boring one out the way first! There are no two ways about it, unless you have a very particular dispensation, or an unreasonable love for graphs, then Excel just isn’t very exciting. It is however an incredibly useful tool.

Many businesses, particularly smaller businesses, make use of Excel in order to manage their books and to disseminate data to workers in a way that can be easily understood. Spreadsheets have a million and one uses, especially in the digital format, and unless someone has specifically studied the more advanced features of Excel they have almost certainly barely scratched the surface of its capabilities.

A short course in Excel will open up a multitude of new possibilities for effectively managing the workplace.

Cyber Security

It’s often said that the human element is the weak point in a business’s cyber security. This is because the majority of hacks happen due to human error. You may have the costliest antivirus that money can buy, with critically acclaimed anti spyware and firewalls, but if one of your employees falls victim to a phishing scam or accidentally leaves their log-in details on their desk in plain sight, these security systems won’t do much to help. With data breaches costing companies a lot of money, it’s vital that your staff are trained in cyber security and security awareness training. Check out a company such as Westcon Academy to find what training opportunities are available to you and your team.

Digital Skill Award

Sometimes, in order to progress as far as you can, you need to go back to basics. A digital skills award is a basic qualification which will ensure that students have a good grounding in the most essential IT skills. If there are any members of your staff who are less than enthusiastic about IT, this is an excellent course to ease them into the subject.

Networking

You know how annoying it is when your internet drops out for seemingly no reason while you’re at home? Well now imagine that happening in the middle of the working day! If you are a large company then you will probably have a dedicated IT department. If not, having a staff member trained in networking can be a real life saver.

These four courses will ensure that your staff are competent and confident in working the various IT tools that they rely on every day.

Tags: courses, employees, essential, IT

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.