Ian Birch, Managing Director of isowise, answers our questions about the new e-learning platform and the opportunities for resellers What is isowise? isowise is a compliance-based e-learning platform. Our mission is to build a culture of compliance through online awareness training. Who is it aimed at? isowise is aimed at micro, small and medium-sized businesses. Companies of all sizes are encouraged to train their teams on compliance to ensure legal adherence, protect sensitive data and mitigate risks. This will ultimately safeguard their reputation and financial well-being, whilst opening new growth opportunities. How long has isowise been in development? You could say six years, given that that's how long I've been involved in the world of GDPR, cyber security and ISO certification. Technically, our comprehensive list of courses and the platform itself were developed throughout 2023 in readiness for launch in February 2024. Why are you launching it now? My time spent supporting SMEs with their data protection, ISO certification and Cyber Essentials projects identified an ongoing need for training in these areas. Technical controls alone are unlikely to fully protect a business. The real risk often sits between the chair and the keyboard, hence why continual training and awareness is required. Challenges and opportunities in the areas I just mentioned are common for companies to have on their radar. However, taking Artificial Intelligence as an example, this has taken significant strides forward in recent years, resulting in ISO 42001 being released a few months ago. This encourages the effective, ethical and responsible use of AI, which employees across an organisation should be trained on. How does isowise differ from other e-learning platforms? Our training is focused purely on compliance, which is an important component of any organisation's commitment to governance and risk. Our experiences in this area have given us a unique insight into the needs of the SMB market. From the outset, our goal was to build a platform which could be rolled out across an organisation without the fear of escalating costs. Hence, we've avoided 'per user' pricing and built packages specifically for micro, small and mediumsized businesses. What courses are available and do you plan to add others in the future? We have 12 courses available at launch, all underpinned by regulations or international standards: l Anti-Bribery l Artificial Intelligence l Business Continuity l Cyber Security l Data Protection l Diversity & Inclusion l Environmental Management l Information Security l Occupational Health & Safety l Project Management l Psychological Health & Safety l Quality Management Our roadmap for the year includes adding the following courses: l Risk Management l Carbon Neutrality l Social Responsibility l Digital Screen Equipment How are courses priced and paid for? We have a subscription model built around company size and the number of courses required. These can be purchased directly on https://isowise.co.uk, starting at just £29 per month. The option is there to be billed annually or monthly, both with annual agreements. The packages can also be bought and invoiced through our reseller partners. What are the opportunities for the IT channel? The main opportunities we see for the IT channel are: l New recurring revenue streams to complement existing services; l Opportunities for new service offerings to close gaps identified through the training activities; l Further positioning the channel as a trusted advisor in the governance, risk and compliance area. r Leverage AI for sustainability Unsurprisingly, AI has enormous potential to accelerate innovation in sustainability, from improving efficiencies in energy use and supply chains to refining the way sustainability data is collected and analysed. Good examples include helping to develop lighter and stronger materials so that aircraft, delivery vans and wind turbines consume less energy; making agriculture more sustainable by predicting weather patterns or analysing images of crops for signs of pests or disease; and saving energy in data centres by predicting the impact that small changes in process can have on overall energy consumption. That said, there are still hurdles for AI to overcome before it is seen as a net positive for our planet. A recent study by Hugging Face, reported in MIT Technology Review, estimates that OpenAI’s GPT-3 produced 500 metric tons of carbon dioxide during training. Sam Altman himself has inferred that a single request in ChatGPT can consume 100 times more energy than one Google search. t Prioritise green skills training As business leaders start to acknowledge the climate crisis and look to be part of the solution, there has been a boom in sustainability-related roles. This trend will continue in 2024, alongside an increased focus on upskilling staff across diverse job functions. Currently, only 17% of companies offer training in green skills. However, almost one third of employers admit that their staff have asked for more training in this area. It should come as no surprise to see a new generation, marked by heightened environmental awareness, urge employers to adopt more robust and responsible sustainability practices. Businesses are far more likely to achieve their net-zero goals if that ambition comes from the top and if their desire for change is understood and acted upon by the whole workforce. Steve Haskew is Head of Sustainability and Social Leadership at Circular Computing, a leading remanufacturer and prime mover behind the world’s only BSI Kitemark for remanufactured laptops. Its 360-point remanufacturing process ensures that Circular Computing’s remanufactured, carbon-neutral HP, Dell and Lenovo laptops look and perform ‘equal to or better than new’ in line with BS standard 8887. www.circularcomputing.com Introducing INTRODUCING technologyreseller.co.uk 37 Ian Birch Where can I find out more about becoming an isowise reseller? Partners are invited to connect with us via the form at https:// isowise.co.uk/partner/ or by emailing [email protected]. isowise.co.uk
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