Axis Communications’ Academy recently became accredited by BICSI. That’s a professional association for the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
The accreditation means that all attendees on the Axis Academy training courses in the UK will be eligible to receive BICSI ITS CECs (continued education credits) that prove continued professional development (CPD) in the ICT sector. Axis thinks it’s the first UK network video provider to have been certified by an IT-based trade affiliation as a suitable learning course for its members.
What they say
Steven Kenny, business development manager for the architecture and engineering programme at Axis Communications said: “Axis has long since recognised that offering continual professional development training and education is vital to ensure that our industry can continue to benefit from the many technological innovations in the market. We are now taking this vision further and applying it to the ICT sector and opening up our hugely successful Academy to new IT channels that are looking to broaden their current offering with the introduction of surveillance systems and network video.
“As network video develops, we see new opportunities and challenges for ICT professionals. These companies and individuals are competent professionals when configuring and commissioning networks but may need training on the specifics of surveillance camera technology which can be a far cry from the analogue era in which they perhaps first developed their skills.”
Since its inception nearly a decade ago, the Axis Academy has trained over 25,000 people on all things to do with network video. It has grown in that time to an operation with over 40 trainers offering courses such as the Axis Certification Programme that allows people to verify and validate their competence within surveillance.
Steven added: “By being part of the worldwide BICSI credentials program, we are aligning ourselves with a globally-recognised organisation that espouses the importance of excellence in training and development across the ICT sector . Like Axis in the US, we are now able to help IT professionals validate themselves within network video and also attain BICSI ITS CECs – we believe we are the first network video provider to be offering this, not least in the UK.”
Already established in the US and with memberships in nearly 100 countries, BICSI provides information, education and knowledge assessment for over 23,000 individuals and companies across IT. The majority of BICSI members are RCDD qualified and so will derive the most value from Axis training courses as they will be credited against their BICSI continuing education credit hours.
Steven saw parallels between video surveillance and VoIP. “As legacy analogue CCTV systems are replaced with hybrid CCTV-IP or pure IP surveillance solutions, the type of equipment used is IP addressable, Ethernet attached and PoE-enabled. This mirrors the kind of set-ups we see with wireless LANs and VoIP phone deployments, with which most IT resellers are already familiar with. With hot topics such as big data and cloud-based integration still in their relative infancy, there are plenty reasons for IT sellers and integrators to look at IP surveillance to boost their businesses. By being professionally trained by a reputable organisation IT integrators can start to reap the benefits from IP surveillance which is at the peak of the maturity curve.”
About BICSI
BICSI has over 400 members in Europe and held its UK conference and exhibition on June 3 at Austin Court in Birmingham. Daren Lang, regional business development manager for Axis Communications in Northern Europe was speaking at the one-day event.
