Giving young people the opportunity to grow and learn through effective training and experience is an important goal for both Bam Boom Cloud and EMA Training.
EMA Training have placed 10 apprentices with Bam Boom Cloud over the course of 6 months across IT & digital programmes! One Digital Marketeer, 4 Digital Support Technicians, and 5 IT Infrastructure Technicians – 4 providing external support, and 1 internal support.
Placing apprentices at Bam Boom Cloud provides an opportunity to work in an environment that helps support their newly-taught skills, helping them to become an integral part of the business where they can continue to grow and excel.
EMA Training Limited is an Apprenticeship Training Provider in the heart of Derby, sourcing, training, and supporting high-quality apprentices across the East Midlands. This includes apprenticeships across IT & digital programmes. First established in 2013, EMA has grown exponentially in the past 6 years. Supporting young people in taking their first steps onto the career ladder, EMA are all about harnessing learners’ potential and allowing them to flourish within a business suited to them.
The company actively works with SMBs and local businesses, 80% of their client base being local, privately owned SMBs. EMA’s COO, James Stafford, shared, “Supporting our local economy will help reduce local unemployment, attract more inward investment, and ultimately create more opportunities for young people.”
EMA’s thorough recruitment process ensures that the quality of Apprentices they offer is consistently high. EMA has both the apprentice and employer’s best interests at heart, they only put an apprentice with an employer if it’s a great culture fit as well as business fit. Ensuring the comfort of both the apprentice and employer is incredibly important.
After 25 years as a global leading Microsoft Partner and part of the Cooper Parry group, Bam Boom Cloud (formerly known as CPIT) have recently undergone a management buyout to become an independent company. Award winning Microsoft Partner of the year for both 2019 and 2020, Bam Boom Cloud are over 100 people based in UK, USA, Canada, and India.
Microsoft is an Apprenticeship Levy employer and reinvests their levy to fund apprenticeships in their partner network. A total of £5,700 has been committed to Bam Boom Cloud from Microsoft to pay a 5% contribution of training costs. Microsoft’s support has meant Bam Boom Cloud can train apprentices to help SMBs grow and scale through cloud technology.
“There’s a purpose to the business. It’s not just about making profits. It’s about democratizing the technology, being more inclusive, and using the technology to help one another.” Bam Boom Cloud CEO Vicky Critchley shared.
Bam Boom Cloud is passionate about technology and delivering purpose driven digital growth. They do this by making the very best Microsoft Cloud technology simple to implement, effective, and accessible to any size organisation. Their mission is to give start-ups and small businesses affordable access to the best cloud technologies so that they can help them Grow, Strong, Fast.
“So many smaller businesses need better technology to compete and grow but think ERP is out of reach. We make it possible. Through hard work and perseverance, we have streamlined deployment processes and offer packaged software, services, and support with manageable payments. It’s truly game changing,” says Vicky.
Bam Boom Cloud and EMA Training have a similarity: their values. Both companies value the importance of working and supporting SMBs and local businesses. Bam Boom Cloud recognised that there was a gap in the IT Service industry – small, medium businesses were not receiving the services they required, disabling them to grow their companies. EMA Training identified that they could get two birds with one stone through offering outstanding support to apprentices and placing them with local SMBs: aiding the local economy’s growth. Bam Boom Cloud are lending a hand in this; their global headquarters will be in the centre of Derby, and this move will be a major boost to the city’s economic recovery efforts.
EMA conduct due diligence on all employers prior to agreeing to work with them, but COO, James Stafford already had an idea of what to expect from the tech company: “Having previously worked with Bam Boom Cloud (formerly CPIT), I already had a reasonable understanding of their company culture, ethos, and values; many of which are shared with EMA Training. Bam Boom Cloud is a forward-thinking organisation; passionate about technology, providing excellent service to their customers, and creating a culture that attracts and retains some of the most talented people in their sector. The onsite games rooms, creative workspaces, and policies such as unlimited holidays and WFAAF make them a hugely attractive organisation to work with, particularly for an apprentice!”
Hiring the very best young people has been a strategy at Bam Boom Cloud for a long time. Searching for that smart and unique individual with a twinkle in their eye, who they can mold into the future superstars of their business has single-handedly been a game-changer.
“Our use of apprenticeships enables SMBs to have access to the same set of products and services as larger corporates. EMA values supporting local SMBs, through free recruitment, robust candidate screening, high quality apprenticeship training, and consultancy. We’re both passionate about the importance of helping underserved small and medium businesses accelerate growth. Having previously hired an apprentice with EMA we already knew what to expect however, EMA have exceeded expectations.” states Vicky Critchley.
Bam Boom Cloud identified that their Digital Support Apprentices lacked the finance experience required to provide support to external companies using the Microsoft based ERP platform, Business Central. Understanding this issue, EMA designed a bespoke programme for the apprentices, which utilised EMA’s wealth of experience in the accountancy, digital and technology space. This has proved to be an ideal solution for the Business Central Support Apprentices, who are training to support clients with the use of the Microsoft ERP system.
EMA are training the apprentices in the Digital Support Technician Level 3 course with an AAT add on, free of charge. On top of this, to ensure they will provide an outstanding service, EMA’s CEO and Accountancy team are training in how to use Business Central, to allow themselves to effectively teach the Bam Boom Cloud learners.
As a result of the collaboration of EMA Training Limited and Bam Boom Cloud, 10 young people have started promising careers which consistently challenge them, allowing them to build new skills and develop into experienced workers within their own industries.
EMA look forward to working with Bam Boom Cloud further, helping them to grow their team with passionate, hardworking apprentices. Bam Boom Cloud know that young minds are the future. They want to invest in outstanding apprentices, working alongside EMA Training to create rewarding careers, allowing young people to start their professional journey with a BOOM.
Young people are at the heart of both EMA and Bam Boom Cloud, if you would like to know how to support your Apprentices throughout COVID make sure to keep an eye out, we have our top 5 tips coming soon!