In training we trust: well-trained personnel can do routine work faster and with fewer errors.

As you go over your budget to find yet another area to trim, it is all too tempting to make deductions from the travel and training budget. After all, travel is costly, and there is a cost that accrues from having your staff members away from their consoles. Makes good cost accounting sense.

If you believe all of the above in a vacuum, you are deceiving yourself. If there is an area that requires all the budget you can allocate, it is staff training. This is not only for reasons of productivity, but reasons of return on your hardware investments as well. One of your jobs is risk assessment ... don't fail to assess in the training area, too.

Look at productivity first. Well-trained personnel can do routine work faster and with fewer errors. They can troubleshoot more quickly, and reduce supervisory involvement. Since the technologies that you use in processing, connectivity, and storage are constantly changing, training will keep your people up on the latest answers to a ceaseless variety of potential data center problems.

For those who focus on the mass storage space, the reasoning rings true as well. Globally known consultant Jon William Toigo observes that: "In data management, we entrust our most valuable asset to those with little training. Mixing priceless data with poorly trained people are ingredients for disaster."

Training also impacts the return on hardware investment, and there is no better example of the consequences of poor training than our school systems. A new survey from Iowa City, Iowa-based ACT reports that America's schools now provide computer access to almost all students, but many schools are not using computers effectively to enhance student learning. They conclude that this is largely because many teachers and administrators have not been adequately trained in their use.

"Our students are behind those in many countries in math and science, and one of the things holding them back is our educators' inability to use technology effectively as a learning tool," says Richard J. Noeth, director of ACT's office of Policy Research. Teachers are using the computer for word processing and simple math calculations. The technology should be integrated into the teaching process to help motivate students and enhance learning.

Move now from the classroom to the data center. Thomas Davenport, in his book Information Ecology, observes that "the old approach to knowledge and information work, which might be summarized as 'hire smart people and leave them alone'" is inadequate to deliver measurable improvements in processes. The message is obvious: The smart people on your staff need continuing education to become smarter, and better able to follow through in work processes.

If your work processes are ecological--that is, based on constant improvement over time--training is an essential part of the ecosystem. Don't would your data center by cutting continuing education. There are courses and certification programs for every budget. Do the due diligence and find yours.