DiData bet $90k on Excom students
Dimension Data Learning Solutions (DDLS) has gambled around $90,000 to help students and businesses left stranded by the failure of training company Excom in the hope they will become return customers.
Former training company Excom went into liquidation and locked its doors in August.
(Black Dice image by Mariano kamp, CC BY-ND 2.0)
Dimension Data honoured costly instructor-led courses to Excom's corporate customers, and offered students of the iconic Express IT course 18 months of access to alternative online study and seminars with its offices. Students across the board were also supplied with spare learning materials. The cost of Dimension Data's gesture was around $90,000.
Chief executive David Gage said the company hopes the offer will earn repeat business.
"Corporate customers have taken up our offer to complete their courses with us at no cost — the cost at our last report was about $90,000 [recommended retail price]," Gage said.
"I'm confident that they will have a good experience and hopefully when they need training in future, they will choose to work with us."
DDLS has bought Excom's business assets, such as IT hardware and furniture, although Gage would not reveal the value of the purchases. It has also hired many of its redundant staff, and is working alongside certification body CompTIA to help affected students.
Gage said business has remained strong in the wake of Excom's closure.
ARN reported that Excom owed some $18 million to staff and creditors at the time of its closure.
The company was famous for late-night TV commercials that featured slick young IT executives, fast cars and guarantees of walk-in tech jobs with the completion of its Express IT course.