177447-agenda-summer-2014

FEATURE / APPRENTICESHIPSMAKINGAPPRENTICESHIPSWORK AN EMPLOYER-LED APPROACHCASE STUDYWHATWHEREWHENWHOLEADING TOA model of close collaboration between an employer, a college and OCROne year Mercato data engineering apprenticeshipBirmingham Metropolitan College (BMET)August 2013 – August 2014Nine apprentices started in August 2013, ranging in age from 16 up to 27Level 3 Diploma in OCR’s Cambridge Technicals in IT (Smarter Technology pathway)THE EMPLOYERMercatoSoftware technology company,BirminghamFrom its base in what was once theheartland of traditional industry inBirmingham, Mercato Solutions Ltd isnow leading the way in a 21st centuryrevolution, the handling of big data.The company is one of three closelyinter-linked SMEs, (Mercato Solutions Ltd,Probrand Ltd and Icomm Technologies Ltd),employing a total of 230+ people. It hasgrown rapidly in the last 14 years throughits ability to deliver innovative technologysolutions to data management problemsand to offer this data handling expertise tocustomers, including IBM, Capita, and theWelsh Government.The innovative company is continuallyexploring ways to find ‘work- ready’employees and embarked on its firstapprenticeship programme in summer 2013.Mercato’s Director of Marketing SteveBushell says: “Apprentices are the seeds ofthe future. As both a school governor andas a technology industry representative onthe Birmingham Skills Board, it is absolutelyclear that business and education have towork more closely together to overcomethe clear gap in the supply of the workreadypeople we need. I am in favour ofa model where employers are involvedin training their workforce throughapprenticeships, not relying on colleges oruniversities to educate people in isolation.“As the data handling technology sectorhas expanded, Mercato uncovered ashortage of the type of staff it needs. Afterdiscussions with Birmingham MetropolitanCollege’s (BMET’s) Clive Davies, Mercatomade the decision to commit to a one yearapprenticeship programme that upskilledpeople in ‘data implementation’, preciselythe skills it needed for the growing bigdata industry. Mercato’s radical technology,which has won the Queen’s Award forInnovation, sits on software known asKnowledgeKube. This implementationplatform is enabling the apprenticesto become ‘data implementers’ whoare developing and automating highlycomplex workflow and business processsolutions, without having to write a singleline of code.Steve explains: “We want qualifications andlearning to be as meaningful and relevantas possible. When we heard that theapprentices would take OCR’s CambridgeTechnicals in IT course, with someadditional new IBM ‘Smarter Technology’units, we knew that this would be a great fitand too good an opportunity to miss.”Mercato and BMET intentionally recruitedpeople for the new apprenticeshipprogramme that came from a variety ofdifferent backgrounds, that were ‘blankcanvases’, with little experience in IT.“Thanks to our close working relationshipwith BMET and OCR’s flexibility in creatinga bespoke curriculum,” Steve continues,“we’ve made sure that what the apprenticesstudy is aligned to our needs. And we’vefound that we can mould the apprenticesto be the ‘data implementers’ we needwithin a surprisingly short time.”“Here at Mercato, we really see thevalue in apprenticeships. I do think thatemployers need to shed some of theirmisconceptions. We pay the people onthe course above the minimum wage. Weare realistic of course – not everyone willcomplete the apprenticeship programmeas it is demanding. My rule of thumb is80/20 to complete. But some exceedour expectations. Take Jonathan Burns(read below) for example, he is alreadycommitted to joining us full time, as he hassuch an aptitude for the data handling workand is helping BMET to improve the coursethrough his data management skills.”10 OCR AGENDA Summer 2014