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Our CEO Jon Lang spoke with the TechDay Australia team about the gap in the tech workforce. And he shares the story behind Lumify's rebrand from DDLS and our training offerings in Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, designed to help individuals and organisations meet the demand.
Watch the video below. During the 10-minute jam, they discuss:
What are Lumify's key products and offerings?
The reasoning behind Lumify's recent re-brand?
What trends are Lumify's product development teams laser-focused on next
What infrastructure or resources Lumify has in the APAC market
The best way to engage with Lumify
Read the video transcript
Tom Raynel:
Today on 10-minute IT jams, we're joined by Jon Lang who is the CEO of Lumify Group.
Lumify helps its customers master technological change. Lumify Group has upskilled thousands of teams and businesses, partnering with the world's top tech vendors to become Australasia's undisputed leaders in ICT training.
Jon joins us today to tell us more about Lumify Group and what they do for their customers.
Thank you for coming along. Welcome to the jam.
Jon Lang:
Thanks, Tom. Tthanks for having me.
Tom:
You're very welcome. Now for a business that hasn't worked with Lumify group before, what are your key products and offerings?
Jon:
As per your intro, we are the leaders in digital skills. And that's training across the entire APAC region. Iin terms of numbers, we're training approximately 30,000 students every year. And that's actually across a wide range of Technologies and as you flagged before, different vendors.
So, we're not new to this game. We've been around - and quite surprisingly for a lot of people - we've been around for well over three decades. So Lumify Group which was formerly known as DDLS has been helping those all organisations.
As we talked about before, the digital skills side of things which a lot of businesses have faced at the moment the digital skills gap.
And we're fortunate enough to be a preferred training provider with most
of the world's leading technology vendors and we're really well known for our Best-in-Class authorised learning experience for both students and customers.
And we're delivering that through well uh you mentioned the group and we've got four brands that sit within there and that's Lumify Learn, which is coming very soon and that provides globally recognised certifications, vendor certification and bootcamps for new entrants. So really, individuals in an online environment.
And then we've got Lumify Work and they offer that business office the Best-in-Class vendor-certified IT training by a classroom, which is obviously being delivered by industry-accredited trainers.
The other two brands we've got are Lumify People, which provides tailored IT Learning Solutions, technical advisory and strategic consulting. And then finally, our most recent acquisition, a business called Nexavu which delivers quality instructor-led Microsoft app training across our 10 campuses across Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines.
So, hopefully, that gives you a bit of insight for those that don't know us.
Tom:
Awesome, now as you said there I understand Lumify Group recently went through a rebrand, and you were previously known as DDLS. Could you tell us more about the reasoning behind this rebrand?
Jon:
Absolutely, and look, as I said, we've been around for over 30 years and DDLS has significantly expanded its services into new industries and regions, including New Zealand. So this also includes a launch of an online learning business that we didn't have previously, the acquisition of the New Zealand business previously known as Auldhouse, which is actually New Zealand's largest ICT training provider and Nexacu, the one I flagged earlier. So, the other thing we did recently was geographical expansion beyond New Zealand, where we opened up a DDLS Philippines campus.
So this has resulted in several separate, I suppose, business divisions that will now be Consolidated under that one roof, which we call Lumify Group and
I suppose what I'd say is the existing DDLS brand, or what I can now say is the old DDLS brand it simply didn't do justice to the progressive modern organisation we've become.
So while it has equity with our existing customer base, the name itself had no connection to what we do as a business. So to move forward and continue to dominate that ICT training Market we needed to move our brands under one umbrella. And for us this rebrand is an important milestone and reflects our ongoing commitment to closing that digital skills crap gap across not only Australia but New Zealand and the Philippines.
Because in Australia alone, I think the number is 286 000 people that will need to enter technology jobs over the next four years just to keep pace with the growth. So Lumify Group's ultimate mission is to really meet that demand by giving people and businesses the skills they need to flourish in a future where we'd all agree on technology rules.
Tom:
Now, shifting Tech quickly what trends are your product development teams laser-focused on next?
Jon:
They are super busy keeping up because things keep changing. So I'd probably flag our major growth areas being cyber security (no surprises there) and cloud computing.
And we're quite fortunate we're the only authorised learning provider across the three major Cloud Solutions of Microsoft, AWS and Google. So we're definitely seeing that.
And our product Dev teams are really busy making sure we've got the latest cyber security offering. We're fortunate enough now to have the largest offering. But our cloud computing courses as well, they are continually growing and they're absolutely the trends we're seeing we're also seeing.
We've actually got our own, it's probably that the demand is coming from the customers as well -- not necessarily just on the courses and the products but also on how they consume that product.
So we've actually now got a really big digital product offering and that team is continuing to increase. And they're effectively building out bespoke custom offerings to our customers which is becoming hugely popular.
And the last thing I'd flag in regards to that, sort of changing things up on not just about cyber security and cloud but how people are consuming training, is we're really focusing on those flexible delivery options. We understand that not everyone learns the same. We also understand that a key part of learning and upskilling is the investment of your time.
So as such, we know people are extremely busy with their lives. So we'd like to ensure we have a delivery model that suits individual needs. But definitely, that cyber security space is where we're seeing huge growth and expansion.
Tom:
Now sort of similar to that, what infrastructure or resources do you have in the APAC Market?
Jon:
Well, we surprised many people when I mentioned some of these but we've actually got just over 10 campuses across Australia New Zealand and the Philippines.
And our campuses, we have full levels they're not room hire businesses, they're actually all branded with what is now Lumify. We've got nearly 100 classrooms. Within those hundred classrooms, over half of them are what we call telepresence-enabled for leading virtual classroom experiences.
So that doesn't mean a little Logitech camera. That means high-end telepresence cameras where the camera follows you around, microphones all kitted out.
In terms of other resources, a lot of people don't realise we deliver over 5,000 classes every year.
And the big thing for me which people don't realise is we've got over 100 expert trainers and in fact, we employ the most significant number of full-time technical trainers in the ICT training space.
So these trainers are cross-skilled in many different technologies so you might have a cyber security trainer. Still, they also deliver project management and cloud, which is much like our customers' set-up because you're across multiple technologies.
I'll probably flag those as our biggest components.
Tom:
Now if an Enterprise user end user wanted to engage with Lumify, what's the best way to go about that?
Jon:
Look, without a doubt, the best way is to go to our website. And I'd go to the group website. Although I flagged those different brands, I would definitely suggest going to the Lumify Group website which is lumafygroup.com and this will also help to introduce you to our four core brands and direct you down the right path.
I'd also just call out our number and hope I get this right but it's
1-800-853-276 and we've got a range of course advisors about 40 or so course advisors all spread out we're covering multiple time zones uh located in either Australia or New Zealand. We've got a couple up in the Philippines as well. And they've also got product experts because it's a complicated landscape in ICT training. So I'd strongly suggest picking up the phone, jumping on the website, speaking to someone or getting that information you need. Just to ensure we're supporting and providing the right details for you and your business.
Tom:
Awesome! Well, it's been brilliant to learn more about Lumify Group and how you're making life easier for your customers. Thank you for joining us on the jam, Jon. We look forward to hearing more from Lumify in the future.
Jon:
Tom, thanks again for your time, cheers!
Meeting the ICT skills demand in the region
As the nature of work changes and as we use technology to address community and consumer needs, the need for people with advanced and fundamental technology skills increases.
Even as we can automate some tasks, there is value in both people who can program these automations and in people who leverage automation towards achieving business goals and improving team and customer experiences.
260,000 people will be needed in the technology workforce by 2025, according to the Technology Council of Australia. Beyond niche and specialist tech roles, the need for digital skills impacts professionals across industries. LinkedIn research found a shift in work towards a skills-based approach, with an increased emphasis on technical upskilling across most industries, particularly those in professional services such as information technology and business.
In New Zealand, the 2020 Digital Skills Survey found that employers anticipate needing 4-5,000 new digital technology professionals annually into the near future. The survey suggests the highest demand is for software developers, data analysts and cybersecurity experts.In addition, the shift from traditional on-premise computing to cloud omputing is driving demand for skills related to cloud-native environments such as Azure and AWS.
LinkedIn's Jobs on the Rise list indicates that the rapid and continued shift towards digitalisation leads to job growth for tech specialists who understand how to drive business growth and mitigate risks in the Philippines. These include roles like Insights Analysts, Delivery Specialists and Project Managers, Agile Product Owners, Data Engineers, DevOps Engineers, Cyber Security Specialists and Cloud Engineers.
As DDLS consolidates our offerings under one roof - the Lumify Group - we aim to provide customers with access to our broader range of products and services for ICT skilling. With one brand, no siloes, 700+ ICT courses, ten campuses in the Asia Pacific and the many trainers you love, we look forward to supporting you in 2023 and beyond.
If you'd like more information about Lumify Group and our ICT course offerings, feel free to contact us by completing the form on this page or by calling us at 1800 U LEARN (853 276).
