Innovation that creates opportunities

To simplify remote management for all locations, a virtual desktop solution was deployed using a VDI infrastructure. Virtualization was paramount during recent lockdowns, to allow students to maintain a connection with the educational setting and training activities, and to overcome any sense of loneliness they might be feeling. Crucially, this allowed Piazza dei Mestieri to reduce the danger of a “digital divide” between students: every young person was able to access the virtual classrooms from their PC, tablet or smartphone, regardless of the quality of the computer equipment in their possession.

The systems that the foundation implemented in that period allowed attendance in both fully virtualized and hybrid classes. This approach also allowed classrooms to be divided in two, thereby ensuring that social distancing could be maintained.

There was a 3% increase in attendance over lockdown compared to pre-pandemic, and the VDI solution was extended to the headquarters of the training centers in Moncalieri, Catania, Milan, Novara and Sondrio.

The VDI solution significantly increased the demands on the existing data storage solution, making it vital to improve performance, efficiency and security.

Piazza dei Mestieri’s priority is to innovate vocational training and make it a tool capable of keeping people in education and professional development. The organization’s approach provides a springboard for integration into the world of work, and for this reason it needed to modernize the systems used in teaching, to ensure that they would continue to be secure and accessible.

“Our collaboration with Bellucci Spa, their expertise and ability in analyzing the issues we brought to them, and the technological solutions from IBM marked an important milestone in our digital transformation journey,” says Giovanni Clot. “We believe it has been critical in our mission to offer young people the opportunity to make a better future for themselves.”

"The project we carried out for Piazza dei Mestieri is an interesting example of how the solutions of an international technology and consulting giant such as IBM can be adapted to the needs of organizations of all sizes,” says IBM Business Partner Alberto Bellucci, General Manager, Bellucci SpA. “For us, the most important challenge is not so much finding technology, since we have been an IBM Partner for years, but the ability to design the ideal solution for each company, knowing that everyone has different needs and different budgets."

“With Piazza dei Mestieri we have followed a holistic approach, which has allowed us to provide solutions in line with what was already in place, following all the phases from design to delivery with due attention and care. This solution has enabled us to become a trusted technology partner for them.”

The Piazza dei Mestieri Foundation is the organization that breathed life into the Piazza experience. Founded in 2004 in Turin, Piazza dei Mestieri is a place of education and community for young people to meet and gain education and vocational training.

Within Piazza dei Mestieri there are production units in which quality products and services are designed and manufactured, and where students can have their first apprenticeship experiences.

Every year Piazza dei Mestieri welcomes about five thousand young people, from Italy and abroad, to its offices in Turin, Catania and Milan. Students come to the Piazza to pursue their dreams, to grow as people, to learn a trade and ultimately, to find a job.

Bellucci SpA is a company specializing in the provision of hardware and software solutions, and the design of system architectures and as-a-service models.