Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 20 | Page 43

FEATURE: TRAINING F or many years now the outage figures attributed to human error have remained static at around 70%, costing companies thousands per minute. This lack of change proves that this significant issue is not being addressed. However, it’s not just a lack of skills and experience that pose a threat to a data centre facility, even those who have worked in the industry for years who you may think is the ‘perfect employee’ can put the organisation at risk. Understanding their behaviour is vital - how competent and confident they are at applying their knowledge on an on-going basis within a mission critical environment is the key to risk mitigation. Many data centre professionals have naturally progressed into their roles as technology has evolved around them, so they most likely learnt on the job and some adopt the approach of ‘it’s worked this way for years so why change the way we are doing it’. Data suggests that continuing to do the things the same way time and time again is risky, particularly within mission critical environments. Liken it to passing your driving test, when you first pass you are tuned into the rules of the road and consciously aware of what is going on around you and you know the potential dangers. Yet, after a number of years of driving, who refreshes themselves by re-reading the highway code? Who goes out of their way to understand the latest techniques that are being taught to the new drivers? Most people are guilty of not refreshing their knowledge in this area. This scenario in a www.intelligentcio.com www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 43