Training Synergy sponsors IT Trainer of the Year Award

Training solutions provider, Training Synergy is sponsoring the IT Trainer of the Year Award at this year’s British Computer Society (BCS) IT Industry Awards for the third year running.

The awards are to be held at The Grosvenor House Hotel, on 6th December. Other Awards sponsors include the NEC, BT, IBM and telecoms provider THUS.

Open to in-house or external trainers, the Training Synergy-sponsored ‘IT Trainer of the Year Award’ – was won by Andrew Driver from Parity in 2005 and by Dave Britt of QA-IQ last year. Candidates who are responsible for the design and delivery of training to customers, business users or IT staff, are judged against the SFIAplus3 IT skills, training and development criteria appropriate to their level in the organisation.

David Field, Director Training Synergy said: "We would encourage as many IT trainers as possible to enter for this award.

"In particular we would like to see more entries from the professional freelance trainer community. We look forward to celebrating with finalists at this year’s Awards ceremony."

According to Daniel Hanlon, Training Synergy’s managing director: "We were keen to sponsor this award because we believe that promoting professional standards is key in supporting the UK's IT industry – and these awards celebrate those in the IT industry who achieve the highest standards in their professional life.

"We want to help promote IT training within the IT industry. This award helps to raise the profile of IT training in the industry and recognise its increasing level of professionalism

"It is vital that the UK’s IT practitioners have the necessary skills to meet the new requirements of UK employers," he continued. "Consequently, the award recognises the achievement of exceptional individuals and organisations who, by the nature of the changing role and nature of ‘training’ in today’s world, are making a vital contribution to the development and efficiency of their business."

This year, on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the BCS - the Awards are uniting the BCS IT Professional Awards and the BCS IM Awards. Moreover, they are being supported by Intellect, the UK trade association for the IT, telecoms and electronics industries and the National Computing Centre (NCC), which owns the Institute of IT Training.

According to the BCS, the Awards mark the key contribution made by the IT profession to economic prosperity, to business efficiency and to our public services.

David Clarke, BCS’s chief executive, said: "Our awards are a great showcase for professionalism in IT, highlighting the importance of technology within today’s business environment where IT plays an integral role from the board room to customer communications."

As standards of sophistication, business acumen and skill in the IT world are continually developing, the role of IT and its effective management is critical across the whole spectrum of business. This cross industry event recognises, promotes and acclaims excellence, professionalism, innovation and the outstanding achievements to which individuals and groups contribute.

End

Notes to Editors:

About the British Computer Society (BCS)
The British Computer Society (BCS) is the Chartered industry body for IT professionals, the Chartered Engineering Institution for Information Technology and a Chartered Science Institution. With its rapidly growing membership, BCS is playing an increasingly pivotal role in leading the development and implementation of world class standards for the IT profession through innovative products, services and support.
Through its specific ’Professionalism in IT’ programme, BCS is leading and building IT professionalism to levels which are currently only seen in more traditional long standing professions such as law, medicine, and accountancy but which will increasingly become the de facto standards for IT professionals.
About the BCS IT Industry Awards
This year’s Awards cover:
• Organisational Excellence
• Project Excellence
• Individual Excellence
The judges will be drawn from representatives of BCS, NCC, Intellect, Award sponsors (where appropriate) and practitioners of equivalent status with extensive experience relevant to the category. In all cases professionalism and ethical practice are prerequisites.

About the National Computing Centre (NCC)
The National Computing Centre (NCC) is the single largest and most diverse corporate membership body in the UK IT sector. NCC champions the effective deployment of IT to maximise the competitiveness of its members' business, and serves the corporate, vendor and government communities. It delivers a continuum of services including; independent and impartial advice and support, best practice and standards, personal and professional development, managed service delivery, awareness raising and experience sharing.
These services are designed to support IT and IS professionals and their teams throughout their management careers and faciliate operational excellence in the industry. NCC is a social enterprise owned by and run for the benefit of its members.

About Intellect
Intellect is the UK trade association for the IT, telecoms and electronics industries.
Its members account for over 80% of these markets and include blue-chip multinationals as well as early stage technology companies. These industries together generate around 10% of UK GDP and 15% of UK trade.

About Training Synergy
With over 300 training personnel working on projects across the UK at any one time and a turnover in excess of £10m, Training Synergy - part of the Synergy Group, formed in 1997 and now with an annual turnover of some £40m - is one of the UK’s largest training solutions providers. Training Synergy delivers some 40,000 training days a year and has 7,000 trainers on its database.

Training Synergy provides a range of training services to support all types and size of training programme, from initial consulting right through to project-managed implementation. It also provides logistics and logistical services to support clients’ ongoing training needs.

Its clients include IBM, EDS, Getronics, Unisys, Accenture and Atos Origin.

Training Synergy was placed 15th in the 2006 list of the ‘Top 50 IT training companies’, compiled by market analysts IT Skills Research.

Further Information from:
Daniel Hanlon / David Field, Training Synergy, 0800 072 5900 or 020 7556 1140 /1141;
www.trainingsynergy.com

Lynda Feeley, BCS, 01793 417 711; lynda.feeley@hq.bcs.org.uk
Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, 01727 860405; www.boblittlepr.com