DDLS and Open Colleges partner to boost ICT training

DDLS, Australia’s largest provider of corporate ICT and cybersecurity training, has formed a strategic partnership with Open Colleges, Australia’s largest, private provider of online vocational education.

The partnership will combine DDLS’s market leading position in ICT training for enterprise and business with Open Colleges’ leadership in providing online vocational training to consumers. It will leverage DDLS’s experience and expertise delivering globally recognised ICT training and certification with Open College’s consumer market reach and expertise delivering online training for a wide range of nationally recognised vocational qualifications.

Open Colleges CEO, Jose Herrera-Perea, said, “We’ve been seeing considerable and growing demand for ICT skills from our customer base and wanted to partner with a leading ICT training provider to help us meet that demand.

“With 28 years of experience and relationships with the world’s leading ICT vendors, and the largest portfolio of Certified Cybersecurity Training in Australia, DDLS was a natural fit.”

DDLS CEO, Jon Lang, said the two organisations were highly complementary. “Open Colleges’ market demographic is B2C and ours is B2B. DDLS is the leader in face-to-face/instructor led vendor-certified training, and Open Colleges is regarded as Australia’s leading, private vocational online learning provider. Through this partnership we’ll be able to combine the best of both worlds to deliver much-needed upskilling to the Australian workforce.”

Open Colleges will work with DDLS’s Australian Institute of ICT (AIICT) division, launched in 2019 to provide high quality, self-paced and nationally accredited training in ICT.

“Through AIICT, we will launch a range of IT Diplomas with Open Colleges, aligned to global IT vendors. We’ll also look at bringing our DDLS vendor-related certifications training to the Open Colleges customer-base through a range of delivery formats,” added Lang.

The first joint initiative under the partnership will be online training in cybersecurity and will include three International Standard Organisation (ISO) and American National Standard Institute (ANSI) accredited certifications issued by CompTIA, the world’s leading provider of vendor-neutral IT certifications.

According to Cybersecurity Insiders’ 2019 Cloud Security Report, there is a significant shortage of qualified cybersecurity staff and a lack of security awareness and skills among all employees. Moreover, sixty-one per cent of organisations surveyed said their employees would benefit from security training and/or certification.

In its 2019 competitiveness plan for Australia’s cybersecurity industry, the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network, AustCyber, estimated Australia could need almost 17,000 additional cyber security workers by 2026. It estimated Australia’s cybersecurity industry could have generated an additional $405 million revenue in 2017 if it had been able to fill all vacancies for cybersecurity professionals.

According to Payscale, the average annual income for an entry level cybersecurity analyst in Australia is $68k, and for those with five to nine years’ experience, $93k.

Lang said the cybersecurity skills shortage and high salaries were reflected in demand for DDLS’s cybersecurity courses.

“Cybersecurity training is just the first step in our long-term strategic partnership, and it is a great place to start, because there’s a huge need for more cybersecurity training.”

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About DDLS
DDLS is Australia’s largest provider of corporate IT and process training and Australia’s number one cybersecurity training provider. We provide extensive training options tailored to an organisations needs, from vendor-certified courses to customised training, including bespoke in-house developed courses. In cybersecurity, we offer the broadest range of authorised training from leading global organisations including the EC-Council, (ISC)2, ISACA, RESILA (Axelos) and CompTIA. In all specialisations, DDLS promotes a balanced approach to training with a focus on the key areas of technology, process and people.

About Open Colleges
As Australia’s largest, private provider of online vocational education, Open Colleges has been helping Australian’s realise their potential for over 125 years. Created in partnership with industry experts, our courses are nationally accredited and provide students with the practical knowledge needed to succeed. With a range of courses across health, business, childhood education, trades, design and technology, our students can learn anywhere, anytime and on multiple devices 24/7 by accessing OpenSpace, our world-class intuitive learning platform that uses interactive and scenario-based learning. And with dedicated consultants and trainers to assist students throughout their study, at Open Colleges, we’re committed to helping Australians make the most of their potential.