IT Funding With the increasing difficulties in finding workers with the right skills, it is important for information technology firms to develop and broaden the skills of their existing workers. The IT Training Program provides up to $25,000 for Iowa companies to upgrade the technical skills of existing IT employees. Funds require a 2:1 match and can be used for tuition, contracted training services, travel, and other costs.

During FY ’09, IT training grants assisted 30 companies, training 218 workers with instruction provided by private training companies, universities and special vendor training offered inside and outside of Iowa. Below are comments from two Iowa companies that have utilized the IT Training Program to extend their training budgets:

"Alliance Technologies is committed to employing the highest skilled technical employees. Our customers count on Alliance to provide the latest technical expertise for their businesses. We can only accomplish this high level of technical expertise through continually providing the best technology training for our employees. The IT training program offered by IDED has been and will continue to be an integral part of Alliance Technologies plan for providing this valuable technical training to our employees."

– Mike Lang, CEO, Alliance Technologies, Inc.

“Vital Support Systems is an engineering and sales company specializing in the delivery of complex Information Technology solutions. Many of our clients view technology as a strategic tool that helps open opportunities for business expansion or provides opportunity to operate more effectively. Many of these companies find it competitively necessary to continually update their IT technologies. Our own company then, stays current and develops expertise in certain evolving technologies that are relevant to the Iowa business community. At Vital, we are continuously training. The IDED IT Training Program helps Vital with our training task to develop skills that allow us to bring new and competitive solutions to the business community in Iowa. Our employees recognize the personal benefit of training as well, and this has helped us retain a more qualified workforce. In this sense, it is our experience that this program has helped make Iowa a stronger business competitor.”

– Jeff Sparling, CEO, Vital Support Systems