By Edward Belgeonne, CEO & Founder, Destiny Wireless

We hear far too much these days about the tough starts many young people face getting on to the career or employment ladder.

That’s why it’s nice to see positive steps being taken by the organisations set up to help our youngsters tackle this serious challenge. Take one of the country’s largest providers of apprenticeships for 16-18 year olds, for example: Vision West Nottinghamshire College, which has used technology to streamline the delivery of the qualifications it offers the under 20s.

After experiencing significant growth in its work-based learning programmes, with 7,260 apprentices and 7,986 employees being trained in the workplace, the college made the decision to migrate to a new document management platform. Why? It was a decision based on the ability to complete e-forms using an e-pen or a tablet device, which equals flexibility in digital data capture devices and opens up a wide range of opportunities for the college.

At the same time, the organisation is launching a new business, Vision Workforce Skills, as it is absorbing a big chunk of the vocational training previously carried out by the former Pearson in Practice.

To do this, an extra 100 assessors will be joining its work-based learning programme – and its new software, Inkworks®, allows users and their digital pens and/or tablets to be easily added and managed as and when they come on-stream. The result: the college says it now has the tools it needs to manage assessors both independently and efficiently.

“We are always striving to improve processes and embrace new technologies,” comments Andrew Martin, deputy principal and finance director at Vision West Nottinghamshire College.

“Inkworks® allows us to have greater control over our own solution and will provide the tools for us to manage the design and editing of our own forms in-house,” adds Andrew.

“This will not only give us flexibility as we continue to grow, but also reduce costs as we will not have to outsource form changes or design development,” he concludes – which has to be great news for both Nottinghamshire and the young hopefuls it’s helping.”