FEATURE: TRAINING
A TYPICAL
CYBERSECURITY
PROFESSIONAL
NEEDS HANDS ON
AND PRACTICAL
EXPERIENCE.
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instance, SAP has been pro-active in helping
Saudi Arabia fill its 30,000 IT jobs gap by
making high-demand digital skills accessible
to Saudi youth and contributing to Saudi
Vision 2030 talent development goals.
“Ground breaking innovative technologies
like artificial intelligence, machine learning,
the Internet of Things, blockchain and
cloud are coming together to transform the
Saudi workplace of the future,” said Steve
Tzikakis, President South Europe, Middle
East and Africa at SAP. “Public, private
and academic sectors are strategically
value of SAR199 million in terms of skills and
knowledge development in the kingdom.
“The technology world is growing very fast,
and SAP tools nowadays are becoming the
main requirements for some well-known
companies in Saudi Arabia,” said Yazeed
Alkarzai, an analyst in governance and
release planning for Global ERP at SABIC
who graduated from the Young Professional
Program in July 2017.
“I would advise every Saudi to join the SAP
Young Professional Program. With SAP skills,
Anna Collard, Founder and CEO of
Popcorn Training
Letting staff organise internal ‘hackathons’
or ‘steal the flag’ competitions motivates
practical on-the-job learning and can
increase intrinsic motivation.”
Collard also advises CIOs to look for ‘attitude’
more than specific qualifications when trying
to bridge a skills gap, with senior professionals
being difficult to find. “The key is to hire
people with the right mindset rather than look
for qualifications only,” she said. “Someone
who has critical thinking abilities, an aptitude
to learn fast and is a great self-motivator,
coupled with some internal coaching, will in
time develop the necessary skills.”
Direct training with
IT companies
Some tech companies are getting directly
involved with training potential talent. For
60
INTELLIGENTCIO
joining forces to integrate digital skills
from education, through graduation to
the workplace with a view to enabling the
kingdom achieve its immense potential
and transform the economy, society as well
as the environment. SAP is very proud to
play a leading role in building and fostering
these partnerships through the SAP Training
and Development Institute.”
Aligned with SAP’s four-year SAR285 million
Saudi investment plan, the SAP Training
and Development Institute has trained over
750 Saudi nationals, with a 98% career
placement post training.
SAP’s Young Professional Program is a two
to three month-long training project for
unemployed Saudi talent to become SAP
Certified Associate Consultants. Since 2012,
the institute has generated an in-country
your chances of getting your dream job will
be incalculably higher.”
Additional programmes offered by the SAP
Training and Development Institute include
the Dual Study Program that integrates
SAP technology training and certification
into the university curriculum, the Startup
Focus Program that supports ideas based
on big data, predictive, or real-time
analytics solutions, and Winnovate which
enables breakthrough business innovation
with Design Thinking and further
innovation methodologies.
Furthermore, SAP enables 35 educational
institutions in Saudi Arabia through its
University Alliances Program and works with
companies, partners and universities to
connect and innovate with purpose through
SAP Next-Gen. n
www.intelligentcio.com