Atos ‘IT services staff of the future’ begin apprenticeships

The first UK apprentices have begun training to become IT staff of the future as part of Atos’s programme to train IT support professionals in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).

Next month, Atos will open the doors of its agentic factory, which will feature AI agents and people working together on customer IT projects. A total of 29 apprentices at the supplier’s delivery centre in Solihull, on the outskirts of Birmingham, have so far started their journeys in the IT profession, with more to come.

The number taken on is a break from the usual for Atos in the UK, which has typically only recruited a few apprentices a year. It also triggers the start to a new approach to training IT support staff, with the plan to learn all disciplines alongside how AI can be used in each.

“The onboarding of apprentices is not new per se, but we have never embraced this number at this level. In the past, it was ones and twos, but now we’ve gone big and we are placing our bets on the younger generation,” said Michael Herron, head of Atos UK.

In October, he told Computer Weekly that he was determined to create new career paths for young IT professionals in the face of the career challenges brought by AI.

At the time, he said Atos is recruiting 50 graduates and apprentices this year as part of its plan to increase its UK workforce, which currently stands at around 3,600. Herron said training plans will consider the increasing use of generative AI (GenAI).

“Rather than training in just one field of technology, new recruits will gain hands-on experience across AI, cloud, cyber security, data analytics and digital services,” said Atos. “This approach ensures individuals grow alongside AI, building resilient careers that evolve with technology rather than compete with it.”

Herron said: “We are redefining the skills the next generation of UK-based talent need to thrive in an AI-driven workplace. We believe these will be both technical and softer skills, such as curiosity, experimentation and creativity.”

As a result, careers will be “multi-dimensional and much more ubiquitous”, he said, adding: “I do not subscribe to the view that there are going to be mass redundancies because of AI and agentic. What I do subscribe to is there are certain roles which will become defunct, but that there will be new roles in the world of agentic.

“There is a sad amount of high youth unemployment at the moment, but I don’t buy into the fact that it’s because the junior jobs are going to go – they’re just going to be different.”