Aylesbury, 8^th February 2010 – Esri UK, the country’s leading provider of geographic information systems (GIS), is today launching a new online Instructor-Led Virtual Training scheme allowing GIS professionals to learn from their home or business office, saving time and money associated with travelling to and from external training courses. 

Responding to customers’ needs, Esri UK is running Instructor-Led Virtual Training courses with its industry-leading ArcGIS software for those restricted by time, travel and resource constraints. ArcGIS software is used across public and private sectors to support better use and management of data, leading to a greater productivity in processing business tasks, saving time resources, linked to efficiency savings. 

Craig Hayes, Head of Training for Esri UK, commented: “In the current economic climate we realise that it is becoming more difficult for some of our customers to justify spending time out of the office. By setting up these Instructor-Led Virtual Training courses, Esri UK is able to offer our users an additional option to ensure they get the most out of our services – from a location to suit them.”

Running from February, delegates will be able to attend a number of different courses through an interactive ‘virtual classroom’, supported by fully integrated audio conferencing.    Delegates will be able to view product demonstrations and lectures and chat, direct questions and collaborate with fellow students and certified Esri UK trainers.

Each Instructor-Led Virtual Training courses can accommodate up to twelve students, giving all delegates the opportunity to raise questions and queries with the trainer in real time, whilst benefiting from a low student to instructor ratio. The ‘hands-on’ practical exercise sessions are facilitated through a fully cloud-based hosted lab environment loaded with the latest release of ArcGIS software, enabling instructors to monitor progress, shadow student machines and respond to any issues through dedicated online breakout areas.   The cloud-based hosted approach means that delegates are not required to have software installed locally, thereby allowing easy access from remote locations to training, if need be.

The new scheme is one of a wide range of training options available to Esri UK customers. To find out more visit: http://www.esriuk.com/training2/virtual_training.asp.