By Annamarie Venter, Learning and Growth Specialist, Cube ICT Solutions
South African business is littered with the fallout from poor employee training.
Documented cases* exist, for example, in which workers received brief demonstrations measured in minutes before being left without adequate supervision to operate heavy equipment. Readers can just imagine the results.
When it comes to the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) hardware and software so pervasive in business today, inadequate training might not directly threaten life and limb.
However, even the best IT systems can introduce risk to the business, rather than deliver value, when employees are not appropriately trained.
The interconnected nature of today’s digital economy means this theoretical IT risk can very often morph into a real bits and bytes blowout. Poor training in local enterprises continues to lead to formal Enforcement Notices from South Africa’s Information Regulator, for instance.
Recent enforcement action by South Africa’s Information Regulator demonstrates the potential consequences. In one case, an acting CFO mistakenly attached a folder containing private employee records while attempting to distribute routine internal finance policies to staff who were not authorised to access them.**.
The incident was not simply the result of one individual’s mistake. It also highlighted the importance of appropriate safeguards, access controls, procedures and employee awareness.
In another example, in one of SA’s biggest municipalities, a technical IT oversight and procedural breakdown within the revenue department’s automated environment led to hundreds of thousands of municipal accounts failing to generate accurately***.
Training is what makes technology work and technology only performs as well as the people trained to use it.
I’ve spent a number of years helping organisations design training programmes that are practical, relevant and aligned to how people actually work. Unfortunately, there seems to be an increasing rush towards implementation, with proper IT training reduced to a tick-box exercise.
Spending budgets on hardware and software without allocating resources to the people expected to use them, and bowing to leadership pressure for quick results, are two surefire ways to stumble as the competition races across the finish line.
Cutting training budgets to lower total project costs is not the way to go, especially in South Africa, which is already grappling with a longstanding, well-documented ICT skills shortage.
Effective training drives user adoption, reduces human error, and strengthens an organisation’s overall security posture.
It helps teams make better decisions while building their confidence. When employees receive clear and continuous guidance, they feel ready to handle complex tools and new systems. This ongoing support transforms daily challenges into growth opportunities.
In addition, organisations that invest in proper training see lasting value, fewer costly mistakes and a workforce that feels secure, empowered, and fully prepared to achieve success in every task.
Personally, I enjoy the way proper training helps build a strong culture of accountability. It does this by setting clear expectations while teaching people to take ownership of their daily actions.
South Africa desperately needs this focused professional intervention to transform workplace standards, strengthen public and private enterprises, and inspire lasting trust and integrity.