The business and personal benefits of professional certification

Since 1993, when Xpertise was formed, our strategy has been consistent: to provide the highest quality training, around professional certifications and recognised standards.

Our rationale is that the training courses are best created by those organisations responsible for the product, methodology or standard. This not only ensures that we have measurable standards against which to gauge our training business, it also means that our customers can use those standards as performance frameworks within their own organisations.

The benefits of certification

While all good-quality forms of training should deliver measurable value, certification training provides additional benefits, including:

• providing competency frameworks for organisations that are consistent worldwide and across industries.
• demonstrating to an organisation’s customers that work is undertaken by people who have demonstrable skills.
• raising the professional credibility of the individuals trained.

Independent research on the benefits of certification

Professional certifications (whether IT or not) have been with us for almost fifteen years – and, during that time, there has been considerable research undertaken to assess the benefits of certification.

Key findings from ‘Measuring the pulse of the IT industry’ – research undertaken by CompTIA:

• 56% of managers consider CompTIA certification to be an important factor when hiring people, and 34% go as far as to require it.
• 53% of managers would offer a higher salary to a job candidate with CompTIA certification.
• 74% of managers say that CompTIA certification is an important factor in considering a person for promotion. 
• 78% of managers believe that CompTIA certification is an important step in validating an employee’s skills.
• 53% of managers feel that having CompTIA-certified employees makes the organisation more attractive to business partners and clients.
• A help desk with certified professionals can handle 11% more phone calls and 28% more field service calls, with a lower staff turnover rate (16% versus 24%).
• Fewer certified staff are required to manage a network, resulting in lower salary costs.

Key findings from ‘Financial Benefits to Supporters of Microsoft Professional Certification’, a report by market research company IDC:

• Companies with Microsoft Certified Professionals experienced shorter server downtimes and greater productivity in the help-desk function, which more than paid for the direct and indirect costs associated with certification.
• The cost of certification in an average organisation is recouped in about four months. Its supporting survey showed that Microsoft Certified Professionals are more productive than non-certified support staff.

Key findings from an IDC study, ‘Benefits and Productivity Gains Realised Through IT Certification’:

• Certified professionals handled 40% more support calls per person, per day, than non-certified staff.
• Companies that advocated for certification reported 49% less downtime than companies that did not.
• For the majority of companies, the savings from increased effectiveness paid the costs of certification in fewer than 9 months.

Key findings from an IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft, ‘Value of Certification: Team Certification and Organisational Performance’:

• 75% of managers believe that certifications are important to team performance. 
• Team performance increases every time a new team member is certified.
• Having a sufficient number of team members certified increases IT organisational performance by an average of 11%.

IT and professional certifications provide demonstrable proof of knowledge and achievement, in a particular product, discipline or technology. Employees, freelancers and contractors benefit from certifications because it objectively demonstrates their skills. Organisations benefit from certifications because they can quickly and reliably assess someone’s capabilities. Certifications can also be aligned to learning frameworks, making them part of an organisation’s learning and development strategy.