Research also shows that training is even more important during times of economic stress. During these times, companies pay extra attention to every dollar spent and every dollar made. This is especially true for IT organizations, where technology advances at a gallop and the cost of keeping up is relentlessly weighed against potential productivity gains.

Companies must maximize their return on IT hardware and software investments. Performance must be finely tuned. Employees must have the skills to get the most out of their organization’s network, applications, data centers, operating systems, managed services, and other IT infrastructures.