NetCom Learning Teams Up With Microsoft for Business Technology Conference to Help Address Business Skills Development Gap

NetCom Learning, the leading research and business skills center, announced it will host the "iBusiness 2012: Differentiate Yourself, Transform Your Future" to show young professionals of any field how they can become business leaders by mastering the ever-changing innovation environment in their industry. The event will be held from 1 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at Microsoft Headquarters, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, in New York City, and will include a host of sought-afterwards speakers who are the MVPs of business leaders.  

Young professionals of any industry can learn how to be the first in their industry to know about the leading business innovation trends and the secrets that keep Fortune 500 companies ahead of the competition. iBusiness 2012 will explain the advantages of getting to know business technologies just as unified communication and collaboration, unified business intelligence strategies and cloud computing, and how to navigate the constantly changing business innovation environment, said Russell Sarder, Business Magnate, award-winning Author, and CEO at NetCom Learning.

The workforce uses research

"Every industry in the workforce uses research. So it's critical to learn the skills that will allow you not only to stay on top of the ever-advancing IT market, however also to know how to apply those solutions to your field. Being able to adapt to the latest innovation is the best way to become a leader in your business industry," Sarder said.

The event is timely considering a recent Financial Times article explaining the existence of a skills gap between the skills that companies need and the training that schools and universities are providing the workforce. According to statistics from a 2011 Robert Half Innovation survey, 51 percent of CIOs say it's challenging for their companies to find skilled IT professionals. Additionally, a 2009 ASTD Skills Gap poll taken by 1,179 organizations showed that 79 percent said there is a skill gap in their organization. The need to confront the skills gap with directed education is so important that President Obama emphasized it while the State of the Union address held on January 25th.

This skills gap is caused by a variety of influences, not least among them the fact that jobs are simply changing. Factors like globalization, IT revaluation and the impact of research and internet connectivity are having an impact as so then. A change in workforce demographics has as well had an influence, especially since 27 percent of the current workforce is coming from the Net Generation and bringing with them a different work and learning style.

The iBusiness 2012 event will feature speakers like Sarder; Savio Chan, CEO of U.S. China Partners; Joey Snow, Senior Technical Evangelist for the Worldwide Developer and Platform team at Microsoft; Chris Martin, Talent Management Strategist in the Fortune 1000 marketplace; Sam Polsky, subject matter expert and trainer at NetCom Learning; and Alison Cunard, General Manager for Sales and Marketing, Microsoft Learning. Cunard leads the sales and marketing team that enables skills development for millions of people globally.