One of the fastest lessons I learned in business was it's the easiest thing in the world to complain, but when it comes to my business, I can't afford the luxury of complaining.

I have to come up with short and long-term solutions for problems every day.

Sam, my new recruit, who is joining us next week as soon as he finishes his A-levels, is a relatively short-term solution to the recruitment problem that Innovit, along with other IT providers, is suffering from.

Hopefully he will be with the company for a long time, but if the expansion I am planning takes off then there will be another Sam-shaped hole very soon, followed by another and another.

The answer?

Find a way of producing school-leavers with the skills to do the job that I need them to do and set them on a career path at the same time. Thanks to the work we are doing with a number of schools across the UK, this solution could soon be a reality.

Just so you are aware, one of the biggest growth areas for Innovit at the moment is education.

Schools are embracing technology far faster than the business world. One of the most popular products is the market leading Microsoft IT Academy.

There are two versions of IT Academy. The Office product is targeted at end users and is proving vital for schools who want to give their pupils practical and valuable computer skills to go out into the world of work.

Children using IT Academy Office are leaving school competent in Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint - packages regularly used in business.

Because they are being trained rather than muddling through they are instantly more employable, but it's the other edition, Microsoft IT Academy Professional, which I think will go some way to solving the IT recruitment crisis as it focuses on training IT and network support staff.

It's an internationallyrecognised benchmark, which underpins the fault finding and technical ability that is a fundamental part of IT support.

Yes, I know it is a Microsoft product and there are other manufacturers out there, but Microsoft still leads the field.

Besides, the language of IT is very like the spoken word - if Microsoft is English then Open Source is American - so people training with Microsoft can easily work on different brand products and visa versa.

Take me - I started out in the Open Source world 20 years ago and cross trained to Microsoft in 1996. I guess you could say I am bi-lingual.

At the moment one of the schools we work with, King Edward VII in Melton Mowbray, is using IT Academy Professional to train all its IT staff as well as some from other schools including another client school, Sawtry Community College in Huntingdon, but it's what we are in talks with Sawtry to do which would provide a real source of quality candidates for IT companies like Innovit.

By integrating IT Academy Professional into its ICT A level, using bite-sized chunks which would fit a traditional lesson plan, we can start to offer a valuable vocational qualification.

Forget the jargon-heavy, theory-loaded courses offered by many colleges and universities - this would offer a practical course with handson experience - immediately understandable by techies.

For employers it will be instantly appealing as the new recruits could get to work straightaway without the need for any extra training.

Plus for the school-leaver, if they choose a career in IT they have a career backbone in following the IT Academy Route, which would take them through professional qualifications which have real value in an industry where there are massive skills shortages.

The biggest challenge at the moment is how to align practical vocational training with a curriculum that is increasingly out of touch with the reality of the IT business world.

Schools are targeted on academic achievement and exam results. The practical benefit is secondary to the pressure to meet government targets and in an everchanging world where technology changes faster than socks, it is increasingly difficult for them to keep up.

Thankfully some examination bodies are starting to wake up to the benefits that targeted, manufacturer-based material can bring.

If things go to plan then we will be seeing the first programme start at Sawtry in September and 18 months down the line, students will complete their course with the additional benefit of Microsoft Certified Professional, or even Microsoft Certified Desktop Administrator, to add to their CVs.

By recognising the real need to align ICT theory with practical hands-on experience, schools like Sawtry will soon be delivering well-trained and experienced support technicians direct from the classroom to the workplace.

* Andy Dent is managing director of Innovit, www.innovit.co.uk