Up to 3000 IT professionals working in government will soon have the chance to upskill, through Australian cloud provider Vault Systems' new training facility in Canberra.

The Vault Academy facility will deliver Vault Systems new secure cloud training program, designed to upskill government IT professionals and meet growing demands for management and use of secure cloud amongst government agencies.

The Academy, which will open in May 2018, is aimed at end-users including software developers, infrastructure engineers, cloud architects, sales engineers, and technical project leaders.

The two-day ‘experiential' training program will include problem scenarios to support moves to cloud-based computing. It will also focus on providing understanding of cloud computing technology, as well as the operational skills required to maintain secure cloud platforms.

The Academy expects to train 3000 professionals per year, in addition to providing a government community where professionals can share ideas and best practices, collaborate and interconnect.

According to Vault Systems, there is now a high level of focus on data protection and secure cloud systems will be critical to government agencies' digital transformation – particularly in terms of cost and labour efficiencies.

“The cloud is an enabler of digital transformation because it offers organisations and agencies the speed and scale to drive innovation,” comments Vault Systems founder and CEO Rupert-Taylor Price.

“For government, information security must be retained in this more productive computing environment. To do this both secure cloud systems and IT professionals trained in its use are required. There is no doubt that the move towards digital transformation will only be successful if the Australian IT workforce has the necessary skills and experiences to support a seamless move to the cloud,” he continues.

Telstra's 2018 security report notes that 60% of polled Australian respondents have experienced a security breach in the last year. Vault Systems adds that government officials must be proficient with secure cloud technologies to manage citizens' sensitive data.

The Australian Federal Government's 2030 report also predicts that the digitisation of interaction between government and citizens may reduce total departmental expenditure by up to 12%.

“We're committed to upskilling IT professionals across Government as it continues to push digital transformation of Government services. Our programme will provide the skills and knowledge for secure cloud delivery through practical, hands-on training exercises that have been designed specifically for Government,” Taylor-Price concludes.

Vault Systems is an ASD-certified Government Cloud to Australian federal, state and local government agencies and their partners.