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Training!

As a SE, I see successful roll outs and adoptions as well as botched ones.  When I go through post-roll out analysis and lessons-learned efforts, most of the time, I see the culprit right away.  Lack of knowledge and going through the project/roll out blind, usually sinks the ship.

There are many reasons some customers skip training.  The first reason always points to budget.  I hear "We don't have budget for training" or "our engineers will figure it out" or the best one yet, "we don't see any benefit in wasting our engineers' time with training".

The second reason is "ego".  I know we are all engineers and have been around security or networking products for a long time.  But implementing a new security platform in an enterprise will take some time to correctly configure, optimize and utilize.   a new centralized management system which requires some scripting knowledge alone  is an formidable undertaking. By blindly going through a project like this, not only you jeopardize the bottom line, you also delay the ROI.

When I go through a demonstration and then a PoC, I usually provide a basic/advance (2-3 day training depending on the product or features) to my customers at no charge.  This helps me to build a better relationship with my customer by ensuring a more successful adaptation and roll out of the technology.  It also helps the customer get enough knowledge to architect and plan their roll out and figure out where they might need more structured training.


Ask your SE about training options!

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