I was recently interviewed by the Boston Business Journal (January 23-29, 2009) for an article about how to choose a computer trainer, “The right click: Recession pays for computer trainers,” by Keith Regan. I’ve included an excerpt:
Computer training professionals say the industry has evolved dramatically in recent years. As personal computing has become ingrained in everyday life, the need to teach basic skills has waned considerably. At the same time, the Internet has opened up new avenues for teaching skills to workers.
“Ten years ago, e-mail was new, the Internet was new and even Microsoft Word was new to a lot of people,” said Tony Holowitz, the founder and president of John Anthony Group in Arlington.
Holowitz’s firm now offers an online training option to all clients as well as in-person training in skills such as the contact management program ACT, Web-design programs and other applications.
“When you talk to the trainer, do they speak in technical jargon that’s going to difficult for employees to understand?” he added. “You’ll also want to know if they use the software they’re teaching on a regular basis. I teach QuickBooks and ACT to a lot of small businesses and, because I use them on a regular basis to run my own business, I can really relate to how people want to use them.”
A good training firm will also offer a variety of options for training, perhaps using a combination of in-person training and online support. Web-based options may enable employees to learn at their own pace, which may suit some worker’s learning style better while others may need the immersive experience of in-person, classroom-style teaching.
Here is a link to the entire article:
http://www.johnanthonygroup.com/Tony_Holowitz_Boston_Business_Journal.pdf
