Big Wave Media Training / Blog

The May edition of the excellent supplement ‘ Computers in Business’ by the Sunday Business Post was focused on App Development and mobile technologies, and featured a piece about Big Wave Media Training – read the article here:

The future is here and it’s largely Apple-shaped, at least from a publishing perspective. And one Irish company is looking to tap into this cultural zeitgeist by providing targeted and certified training in digital media, including courses on Apple and Adobe publishing programmes.

“Our courses are open to everyone,” said Liam Hurrell, training manager at Big Wave Media Training. “In fact, a lot of the people who take our courses have no prior experience with digital media.”

This is in marked contrast to Hurrell’s own background. He has worked in production, software development, design and training from the genesis of the multimedia revolution, and he has used his experience to bring the most up-to-date training programmes in the most relevant technologies to users in Ireland.

“Big Wave exists to enable our clients – whether they are companies, individuals or educational organisations – to realise their aims and objectives in digital media,” he said.

Much of the quality of Big Wave’s training comes from its certifications, an advantage that the company has had since it opened Ireland’s first Adobe-authorised training centre in 2006 (it continues to train people in the use of Adobe products, including courses in Photoshop and InDesign).

But Big Wave has been quick to realise the importance of the current trend for mobile publishing, and in response to demand it has developed a number of programmes around iOS, the operating system behind Apple’s iPhone and iPad apps.

“Apple technologies are becoming increasingly popular,” said Hurrell. “Digital media these days is all about looking great. It’s all about the feel and the look of the message. We enable companies and individuals to express themselves on these mobile devices in an efficient and effective way.”

In order to train the new generation of Apple users, Big Wave uses its capabilities as Ireland’s first authorised Apple Training Centre to offers courses in everything from creating PDFs for publishing on Apple products to using iOS to actually create new apps.

“We’ve also moved into a new area, where we have trained people in how to maximise the use of their iPhones and iPads in their businesses,” said Hurrell. “This includes everything from the very basic levels of seeing what the technology can do to more advanced applications such as how to check stock levels, or how to use an iPad to log on remotely to a desktop. The iPad and iPod are becoming business tools, and they are genuinely driving change in the way people work.”