Deutsche Telekom IT GmbH Uses AWS Training and Certification to Modernize in the Cloud

When it comes to technology, one thing is clear to German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG: the future is in the cloud. So Deutsche Telekom IT GmbH (DTIT), the internal information technology (IT) service provider of Deutsche Telekom AG, launched a broad, ambitious initiative to upskill a large number of employees in cloud technology, including on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The company used AWS Training and Certification, which offers both digital and classroom training, to help it exceed its training and certification goals. DTIT can now adopt cloud technologies on AWS and optimize its use of them, investing in its technology future.

A large telecommunications provider in Europe, Deutsche Telekom AG offers telecommunications and internet services to more than 250 million customers. DTIT is responsible for the design, development, and operation of IT systems and infrastructure that support business processes at Deutsche Telekom AG. The IT company itself comprises several entities throughout Europe, with 10,000 employees mostly located in Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Russia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Initially operating a classical monolithic architecture with one-time developed products and IT services, DTIT knew it needed to change its approach to technology infrastructure to stay competitive. “One of our great challenges is adopting a future-oriented architecture based on microservices,” says Juraj Girman, vice president of Telekom IT at DTIT Solutions Slovakia.

In 2019, the company began an initiative to push at least 60 percent of its applications to the cloud, including on AWS. “The main reason we chose AWS is because it has so many services that we can pick up and use for our demand,” says Noushin Parvizi, program manager at DTIT Germany. However, the company had a relatively low exposure to AWS. For example, at DTIT Solutions Hungary, only about 5 percent of DTIT staff had used AWS before. Looking to expand company-wide cloud expertise in general and on AWS, DTIT looked into AWS Training and Certification. “As we began the initiative, we identified three major roles within the company that could benefit from specialized training: systems operations, architecture, and development,” says Parvizi.

Therefore, DTIT employees embarked on AWS Training and Certification, taking courses relevant to their roles within the company. Systems operations personnel learned how to create automatable and repeatable deployments of networks and systems on AWS in the Systems Operations on AWS course. Architecture personnel learned the fundamentals of building IT infrastructure on AWS in the Architecting on AWS course. Development personnel learned how to develop secure and scalable cloud applications in the Developing on AWS course. “We made training available for our people, encouraging them to take the courses needed for their technical AWS Certification within 90 days,” says Parvizi. “In addition to offering courses based on different roles, we offered joint office hours alongside AWS every week to answer questions. After those 90 days, most of the people were ready to take their exams and get their AWS Certifications.”

DTIT didn’t just seek to impart specific technical knowledge of AWS to its operations, architecture, and development teams. The company also pursued a broad foundational understanding of the cloud and AWS for its nontechnical employees by using courses like AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials, a fundamental-level, one-day classroom course. “There were many product owners, scrum masters, and managers who took part in the foundational courses,” says Örs Cseresnyés, vice president of Telekom IT at DTIT Solutions Hungary. “About 40 percent of the participants were from nontechnical roles. We believe it is critical for these team members to have a working knowledge of AWS and understand the possibilities of the cloud.” Afterward, DTIT employees learned the foundations of cloud computing, storage, and networking on AWS in the AWS Technical Essentials course and the benefits of cloud computing in the AWS Business Essentials course.

As of February 2021, over 2,000 DTIT employees had received at least some degree of training on AWS. “Team members who participated in foundational and specialized training said they better understand the cloud and what it can do,” says Parvizi. “Our people have discovered that it’s not so complicated. They can use AWS services to solve problems that they previously had to solve manually. Our people see that these services can save time and money—and it’s been very beneficial for our colleagues to see how simple AWS services work.”

As DTIT continues its AWS Training and Certification initiative, the company’s Central and Eastern European entities are well positioned to take advantage of that value. DTIT Solutions Hungary, for example, had 250 people participate in AWS Training and Certification, increasing the number of employees with experience using AWS by five times. “We clearly see that people who join our company here in Hungary are looking to get trained in the most cutting-edge technologies, including technologies on AWS,” says Örs. “It’s an added value on the job market if people see that we can offer this.”

Now more of DTIT’s employees are familiar with using the cloud and AWS, and the company expects to see exciting results as team members integrate new skills and knowledge into their work. “Certification is like a driver’s license,” says Parvizi. “It takes time to get the work experience needed to see an impact. Someone who is AWS Certified might not migrate everything to AWS right away. My estimation is that by the end of 2021, we’ll see the effect of training.”

Having effectively upskilled a large segment of its technical and nontechnical workforce, DTIT is in a great position to use the breadth and depth of AWS services to increase productivity, reduce costs, speed up innovation, and ultimately improve mobile and internet services for hundreds of millions of Europeans. “Already we can see our technical teams deploying concrete things on AWS,” says Girman. “Our developers can build code that is deployable on AWS, and the operations and DevOps teams can better do their jobs.”