30/01/2008

London, January 29th, 2008.
Philadelphia, January 29th, 2008.

The online education service ALISON recently launched an IT training initiative, called ‘Digital Enterprise’, for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) worldwide.

It is widely accepted that small and medium-sized enterprises are for the most part on the wrong side of the ‘Business Digital Divide’, with lack of funds and access to ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) as the most quoted reason for falling behind big corporations. However, according to Dr. Tom Wielicki, Executive Director of the Digital Economy Center at the Craig School of Business, California State University, the number one barrier to the use of ICT is the lack of ICT education and training and not the lack of funds for hardware and software.

In response to this global issue, the online education service ALISON (http://alison.com) recently developed and launched an online education initiative that immerses employees of SMEs in a twenty five hour online IT skills training programme. The course suite develops the trainee’s IT skills, provides IT-related health and safety awareness, and improves touch typing proficiency.

The initiative is based on an ongoing pilot conducted by ALISON and the Irish National Training and Employment Authority FÁS, which uses online learning as a strategy to teach basic ICT skills to managers and employees in small and medium-sized industrial enterprises in Ireland’s western region. The underlying rationale for the training initiative is to immerse industrial-sector SME employees in basic ICT skills training, with the intent that the participating SMEs can begin to take advantage of ICT applications to exploit new business opportunities, increase company productivity, and develop a workforce skilled in key digital age competencies.

At the launch of the Digital Enterprise initiative, Mike Feerick, ALISON CEO, commented that “…ultimately, this is an initiative that will promote economic growth and expand markets for small and medium-sized enterprises both at home and abroad.” Mike was also happy to report that ALISON has been invited to present on this initiative to The International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace to be held at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York this June 12th and 13th.