First Distribution is proud to announce the launch of its FD Academy to the South African and African IT channel community.

In partnership with Ingram Micro, the academy will offer a wide variety of training and skills development to its channel partners, and comes as the result of First Distribution looking for and finding new ways to bring value to its customers.

First Distribution and Ingram Micro's partnerships with the world's leading technology companies like IBM, Oracle, VMware and HP, to name but a few, have enabled the FD Academy to provide education and training focused on skills development and certification enablement.

IT knowledge is essential to achieving professional success today; and it is becoming ever more crucial for companies and individuals to not only develop, but to maintain, up-to-date skill sets with a trusted partner like Ingram Micro Training.

In a recent IBM Smarter Workforce study, IBM looked at best performing companies and worst performing companies to see if skills had a part to play in performance. It found that 84% of employees in best performing organisations are receiving the training they need, a full 68% more than the worst performing companies.

FD Academy Manager Maryka Absil commented: "First Distribution has long been looking at new and exciting ways to incorporate certification, training and skills development into our distribution model, to add even more value to our customers by leveraging our longstanding relationships with leading global IT vendors and training partners. The partnership with Ingram Micro allows us to do exactly this. It's simple and within reach of all our business partners."

A vast portfolio of content and delivery options is offered through Ingram Micro. From classic instructor-led live and virtual training to on-demand and cloud-based training, there is a programme to meet every learner's style and schedule.

An example of such is Flexible Integrated Training (FIT), which consists of multiple learning components designed to either stand alone or to integrate with others.

They include on-demand modules, a series of video learning libraries consisting of short 20-minute segments, which can be viewed anywhere and at any time.

Another is FIT L.I.V.E. (Learning Immersion in a Virtual Environment), a virtual world where a user's avatar will engage with an instructor, peers, interactive gaming, and a wide variety of elements to keep the learner attentive and engaged.

The FD Academy in conjunction with Ingram Micro intends to be a partnership that transforms the way technology training is developed, delivered and consumed.

For more information or to request a quote, please contact FD Academy manager Maryka Absil on (011) 540 2640 or 082 770 3210.

Alternatively, requests can be e-mailed to academy@firstdistribution.co.za.