Funny lady Linda Smith used to say, “I love Waitrose – it’s that little bit more expensive.�

It’s a funny old world, but until the recent credit crunch, all of us allegedly were sold the view that “Expensive equals quality�, or “Let’s be honest, cheap equals crap�. The marketing boys had it all sewn up – imagine the luscious shots on the M&S ads, with “This is not ordinary food, this is….� Conversely, the supermarkets Value or Basic ranges were devoured by the penny pinchers but not by you and I.

In IT courses, the high end “luxury market� (surely they’re superior - if you can afford it - why else would these companies be market leaders?) convinced us that there are companies around who’ll do it less expensively but be careful, you get what you pay for…. .

Then lo and behold, we hover on the brink of financial meltdown, and all at once value takes priority! Many householders stop visiting Waitrose, and instead choose Aldi and Lidl. Stockbrokers and their fat profits are frowned upon, and we all look more closely at what we buy.

Have we been fooled by companies charging more? Further investigation into the UK training market, and maybe the big boys with their fancy prices are not all they seem. Just because there’s a great need for an ever increasing number of skilled programmers and networking professionals, should we really be paying over five thousand pounds to be trained in these skills, or are we missing something better? It’s a bit ironic that many IT trainers are preaching one thing whilst practicing another - supplying a workforce for the digital age using old fashioned methods. Should we really have to read through books when anything can be downloaded and watched on computers? Why should we drive to training centres, paying even more for our overnights to do what we could do at home? 24/7 Interactive support should be available for me when and where it works best for me – at my convenience, but not at my cost.

With newer, slicker training options on offer at a fraction of the cost of these prices, shouldn’t we acknowledge the fact that with regard to electronic learning, value is great quality and great price. A new order is asserting itself in IT training – in supermarket terms, it’s slashed prices for best ever products. In this uncertain world we live in, bring it on.

(C) Scott Edwards - www.learninglolly.com. Scott Edwards has been involved in the IT and Training Industry for 30 years.

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