By Mark W. Decker, Chief Operating Officer
Training and consulting services have been at the core of Chesapeake's
operations since its inception in 1990. Today, we at Chesapeake
continue to focus on these two complementary businesses in a way
that clearly differentiates us from other service providers in
the highend internetworking market. This article provides
some important details of our unique "hybrid" training/consulting
business model and why it's such an important part of life at
Chesapeake.
The most important factor that continues to drive Chesapeake
to build its combined training and consulting capabilities is
the belief that the only road to becoming the quality leader in
this market is to attract and retain the best possible technical
talent in the industry. To do that, we developed a "hybrid"
training/consulting model with a work environment that offers
both diversity and significant technical challenge -- an important
prerequisite for building a world-class staff of network experts.
The rationale for the focus on our technical talent is simple.
While many in the network industry believe the power and potential
of a computer network is defined by its physical components, we
believe this power and potential is defined by the people who
operate it. That means the process of selecting a provider for
training and consulting services should look at one dimension
-- quality. At Chesapeake, our total focus
is quality and we get there with outstanding people.
The following are specific advantages to Chesapeake's
unique "hybrid" training/consulting business model.
When outside of the classroom environment, Chesapeake's
instructors spend much of their time "in the field"
consulting on various high-level network challenges including
design, troubleshooting, and optimization deployments using the
latest tools. Bringing this depth of experience to the classroom
is the source of Chesapeake's quality advantage.
Having both the "theoretical" and "practical"
perspective in the classroom delivers the best of both worlds.
Providing real-world examples of difficult concepts enhance learning
comprehension and retention. Furthermore, Chesapeake's instructors are better armed for more detailed "offline" discussions
during breaks and after class regarding specific issues facing
our students' networks. In a recent example, one of our instructors
spent extra time with an inquisitive student on the subject of
floating static routes -- an area causing recurring problems in
the student's network. Because of our instructor's practical knowledge
of the subject matter (based on prior consulting experience), he
was able to detail a solution to the problem. The end result was
very positive. The following week, the student remedied the problem
based on our instructor's proposed solution.
On the consulting side, the same is also true -- as certified instructors, our consultants are better armed to deliver valueadded solutions to our consulting clients. Because of our status as a Certified Training Partner to various networking vendors, our instructors are required to stay abreast of new product releases. As a result, you can be sure that a Chesapeake consultant has the breadth of knowledge for efficiently delivering a solution that incorporates the latest technology. In addition, Chesapeake's certified instructors have completed a rigorous instructor-certification process that trains them in the art of teaching. These skills can be vitally important in enabling the learning process for our clients' inhouse technical resources who work alongside our consultants.
This leads to a final point: our consulting approach has been to deliver to our clients more than just the right solution we leave our clients with the enhanced knowledge necessary to ultimately gain independence from outside support. Because of our training infrastructure and our inclination towards channeling knowledge, Chesapeake's philosophy is compatible with clients who want to build the necessary internal skills to manage their mission critical network infrastructure.
Chesapeake's primary motive behind the creation
and refinement of this unique business model is the belief that
when you create a technically challenging work environment, you'll
attract the best and brightest technical talent. Chesapeake
offers an environment that provides both a variety of technical
experiences along with an opportunity for technical specialization.
Among our most tenured network engineers, there is a strong belief
that the combination of training and consulting provides a rewarding
and intellectually stimulating work environment. The result of
this strategy has been incredibly low turnover and an impressive
lineup of recent hires.
As most readers will appreciate, the industry is moving at a pace
where the life cycle of new networking technology is measured
in months rather than years. As such, it is not enough that an
instructor has had industry experience some time in his or her
past. If the experience is more than six months old, it is probably
outdated. Because of Chesapeake's practice of interweaving
consulting assignments into training schedules, our instructors
are assured of staying current in this fast-paced industry.
And, because of our instructors' exposure to a wide array of IOS
features in the classroom and realtime troubleshooting during
handson lab exercises, they have the experience to implement
the best solution among various possibilities.
Chesapeake has recently announced training and consulting partnerships with several leading networking vendors. Combined with our long-standing relationships with Cisco Systems and NETSYS Technologies, we have recently added partnerships with Ascend Communications, Check Point Software Technologies and FORE Systems. Chesapeake's quality orientation has facilitated the development of these relationships and much of the credit goes to our hybrid training/consulting business model.
Those vendors who seek training partners are often interested in our consulting services, as most vendors do not have strong aftersale support capabilities. They need partners capable of providing a broad array of professional services.
For those vendors seeking valueadded
consulting partnerships, having certified training capabilities
ensures the highest quality technical resources will be deployed
in support of their products. For example, our proven track record
as the leading Certified Training Partner for NETSYS Technologies
is evolving to include a program providing certified consulting
services for NETSYS customers.
Some may ask at this point: if the rationale is so compelling for the hybrid training/consulting model, why aren't others following suit? The answer is simple. It's a tough business model to implement and maintain. First, it's difficult to deploy your technical resources efficiently (given a fixed training schedule) when you get a quick, often unpredictable request for high-level consulting services. Second, it's tough to recruit network engineers capable of both disciplines due to the dual requirements of technical excellence and "platform skills."
At Chesapeake, we welcome those challenges
because of our basic commitment to the premise: top quality people
deliver top quality services -- and what else is more important
than quality in the context of mission critical infrastructure?
Copyright © Chesapeake 1997