Utilita is a pre-pay gas and electricity supplier. After steady growth for several years, the business has doubled in size over the last two years. When Phil Roberts joined as the Head of IT, he realised that the team didn’t have all the skills needed to drive rapid growth.

At the start of the project, there were several sets of skills needed within the IT team. It was made-up of three Junior Technicians who had previously received no formal training or certifications.

Initially, Luke (Utilita’s dedicated Firebrand Enrolment Consultant) met Phil to discuss his vision for the development of the team. He then spent a day with each employee at the Firebrand Training Centre to build a training pathway for each of them.

“Luke took the pain away from planning the training. It was important that he understood the business; plus, Utilita understood the impact of not doing the training,” Phil explains.

This started with each team member confirming their baseline IT knowledge with an accelerated Microsoft MTA course. Firebrand combines official Microsoft courses into certification programmes, which are delivered at twice the speed of traditional training.

The Utilita team each gained three Microsoft MTAs in just one week out of the office.

Once the team had learnt the fundamentals, each member went down a different training path aligned to their strengths, ensuring the team has a broad skills base. Additional Microsoft skills and certifications gained by the team now include Azure, Office 365, SharePoint, SQL Server and Windows Server.

The team has broadened its knowledge through further training, including CompTIA, Cisco, ITIL, VMware, and Cyber Security.

BT iNet is the networked IT Specialist of BT Business that provides Engineering, Project Management, and Sales Support Services across the country. The company came to Firebrand with the need for a bespoke training programme that would satisfy two requirements. One: to provide a refresher for all Cisco Unified Communications Engineers and Consultants, and two: cross-skill the Engineers with Cisco Routing & Switching skills.

Glyn knew exactly what training BT iNet required – but it wasn’t what you’d find ‘off the shelf’. Glyn required flexibility, and provided a list of the elements of Cisco Routing and Switching that his team needed to learn. “The reason we wanted to run bespoke training is two-fold. Firstly, as a refresher to Voice Engineers who didn’t get heavily involved in that anymore, and secondly for the guys who have come straight into the Voice side of things, and don’t have an R&S background to draw upon” he said.

Glyn discussed his ‘wish list’ with Marcus Costerton, Firebrand’s Cisco Learning Consultant, and Dave Petts, Firebrand’s Chief Cisco Instructor. Firebrand then designed a course curriculum that provided all of the required knowledge, in the fastest possible time.

The biggest benefit to BT iNet was the speed at which the training would be delivered. Glyn describes: “The main saving was in the amount of days away from work. Having engineers out of the business for long periods of time is a considerable cost and inconvenience, so Firebrand’s approach of keeping this to a minimum was very attractive”

The easy decision: 45 or 120 days?

A traditional delivery of this course would have been eight days’ training for each of BT iNet’s 15 members of staff. With Firebrand, the course was only three days. This meant that the staff were out of the office for a combined 45 days, rather than the alternative of 120.

Glyn explains: “As a result of attending this bespoke training, we now have the opportunity to use our workforce more effectively. We’ve reduced the amount of travelling time for engineers, because we have the skills we need distributed across the country. A happier workforce, and reduced costs, equals a win-win for us.

He concluded: “Firebrand balanced being incredibly fast with the reassurance that they’re an official Cisco Learning Specialized Partner. So everything was official: the labs, courseware and instructor – which made it an even easier decision to make.”

5G Communications is a UK-based telecoms provider and consultancy. When they first came to Firebrand, they were relying on external server support. This was both expensive and inefficient.

Following consultations with Firebrand’s Cisco Learning Consultant Marcus Costerton, it was Firebrand that provided what 5G needed - in the shortest time.

5G sent their staff on a variety of courses to fill their skills gap: Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange and Windows Server; and Cisco CCNP. The biggest benefit to 5G was that this training was effectively free.

How the training paid for itself

The training investment meant they were able to halve their monthly external support fees. The money saved in the first year was redirected to training, and now all future savings can be spent developing the business further.

5G is now in the process of hiring two apprentices, through the Firebrand Apprenticeships programme.