Another busy training schedule lies ahead for this year. Dee Smith and Associates anticipates further growth in the number of delegates as organisations and private individuals realise the benefit in attending its wide range of internationally accredited training courses. With the continuing investment being made into new data centres in sub-Saharan Africa, the need for relevant and certified skills continues to grow.

Courses are delivered in Johannesburg, South Africa, unless otherwise stated. All courses require minimum registration quantities to proceed. The course language will be English for all courses, irrespective of country.

Refer to the training page on the company's Web site (www.deesmith.co.za) for the latest course brochures, registration forms and pricing details. Prices for courses delivered outside of South Africa are available on request. Bespoke courses are also offered for organisations who prefer this approach subject to a minimum number of delegates. Travel, accommodation and all other costs are excluded. Course pricing is subject to change without notice.

New course: CITS – Certified Information Technology Specialist

Working in the IT industry is a challenge. The ever-growing complexity and integration of business and technology has reached levels never seen before. The traditional ways of operating in a digital society demands a skilled workforce. It is imperative that an IT professional continues leveraging himself/herself to remain relevant in the industry.

EPI, a business partner since 2010, has developed the first and only vendor-neutral competency-based IT Training Framework in the world that addresses the need for IT competency training and certification for IT professionals to keep up-to-date and remain relevant. It is also the first and only IT Training Framework which is aligned with the European e-Competence Framework (e-CF).

The EPI IT Training Framework offers a career track at three levels, CITP (Certified IT Professional), CITS (Certified IT Specialist) and CITE (Certified IT Expert). The three training courses are independent. An IT professional can enter the track at any level upon meeting the pre-requisite on number of years' experience.

CITS is the second course in the EPI IT Training Framework. The CITS course is aligned with competence level-3 of the e-CF. It is a three-day course designed to teach the skills, knowledge and competencies required of the modern IT specialist working at the senior professional, team-leader, supervisor or management level in IT management. Candidates who successfully complete the course and pass the CITS exam will be awarded the globally recognised CITS credential. This proves that they have gained the competencies required to provide leadership and take responsibility for team performances and development in unpredictable environments, using innovative methods. They will be able to place themselves above their peers, delivering added value to their organisations.

New course: CMC101 – Introduction to Crisis Management

IT crisis management and how a major incident is handled is one of the most crucial processes for any organisation. A major incident, which is one with significant negative business consequences, needs to be handled with a well-defined process that is not currently clearly defined in existing methodologies.

This course addresses how IT resources should handle the major incident process which includes those outages and failures that are on the immediate horizon of any enterprise.

After completion of the course the participant will be able to:

* Develop an optimum strategy for dealing with mission-critical environments and assets based on consequence analysis.
* Describe all components that are important for high availability in the IT landscape and how to effectively set up an environment which is geared for operational safety.
* Apply the various relevant processes from the various industry frameworks.
* Understand the various tools available to assist in crisis management to optimise the Major Incident Process.
* Become effective and efficient at IT crisis management.

New course: CDMS – Certified Data Centre Migration Specialist

Data centre migration is a challenge faced by an increasing number of organisations who are relocating their data centre due to space, power and/or cooling limitations of their current facilities. A data centre move could also be due to other considerations such as consolidation of multiple data centre sites and/or targeting lower cost of operation (Opex) by improving efficiency and other initiatives. Data centre migration is an exceptionally high-risk undertaking. Most data centre professionals have never done this before.

A few professionals have done it only a few times in their life. The level of effort required in the planning and discovery phases is directly proportionate to the amount of risk mitigated. It is an exercise that requires collaboration and interfacing with various stakeholders in the organisation – some for the first time ever.

The Data Centre Migration Specialist course is a two-day course designed to expose participants to all aspects of a data centre migration. It provides a step-by-step methodology which will enable them to reduce the risks involved in such a complex undertaking. It will also provide participants with valuable and practical hints and tips used by seasoned data centre professionals who have done multiple complex migrations.

Other ICT services that Dee Smith and Associates offer

The company offers a number of professional services to the market. Below is a list of additional services that could be to the benefit of you and your organisation:

* Bid Management and Contract Management;
* RFI and RFP Formalisation and Process Management;
* ICT Program Management and Execution;
* Data Centre and ICT Personnel Resourcing (permanent and contract-based);
* ICT Turnkey Solution Design, Deployment, Quality Assurance and Program Management;
* ICT Supply and Sourcing Services (including contract and price negotiations);
* ICT Transition Management;
* ICT Governance Framework Implementation;
* ICT Strategy Assessment, Execution and Operational Alignment;
* Facilitation of Data Centre Audit and Certification Programs;
   * Uptime Institute;
   * ANSI/TIA-942;
* Data Centre Design Reviews;
   * Uptime Institute;
   * ANSI/TIA-942;
* Data Centre General and Operational Assessments (including Electrical and Mechanical);
* Data Centre and ICT Migration and Relocation;
* Data Centre Design Workshops and Facilitation Sessions;
* Data Centre Floor Layouts and Planning;
* Data Centre Site Improvement Services;
* Network design and operational assessments; and
* Data Centre Efficiency Consulting.

The company has experienced, proficient and skilled experts and associates within multiple industries and disciplines, all with solid track records, to which its achievements bear testimony.

Please refer to its Web site for more details or contact it directly at info@deesmith.co.za .