Before Select Inc. came along, Eastern Bank didnt entirely trust some of its potential integration partners. “They seemed to lack product access and expertise,” laments Eastern Banks Bob Primavera.
Theres a lesson in that comment for anyone who wants to retain customers: Consider certification. “Without the Cisco Wireless Certification program, we wouldnt have been able to do this project,” says Selects David Reid. “I was good with the data side [of networking], but I wasnt all that familiar with the RF [radio frequency] side” of wireless networking. Select also hired some RF people who needed to bone up on IP networking.
“Completing the certification course took me probably half a day,” says Reid. “Others might take a bit longer starting from scratch.” The online course consisted of Webcast lectures supplemented by e-mail exchanges.
“What really helped is that Cisco had one of the original Aironet engineers do the lectures,” he adds. “He was very familiar with the product and anticipated almost every possible question.”
Selects engineers are certified in numerous specialties. For this particular integrator, education pays.