Get Certified! The Value of IT Certification

The following is an extract of a Microsoft report entitled Skills Development White Paper 2009. It outlines the proven benefits of IT Certification and was provided by founder and Managing Director of New Horizons Ireland, Liam McMahon. For a full version of the report, please contact New Horizons Ireland (www.NewHorizonsIreland.ie).

Without question, the condition of the economy is having a fundamental impact on how companies conduct business. While organizations are looking to cut costs and reduce risks wherever possible, they’re also turning to IT to maximize the efficiency of their existing assets.

Yet, while IT is playing a more crucial role than ever before, IT project success rates 'remain abysmal', according to IDC. The best way to reduce the risks of these projects, according to the same research, is developing the skills of the team.

In fact, there’s a strong correlation between skills development and IT project success. On average, organizations that spent 8 percent of project budget on training met their objectives 85 percent of the time; those spending 10 percent met objectives 100 percent of the time.

The economy makes skills development critical for individuals as well. Certification, as an industry-recognized validation of skills, is a proven differentiator—whether the individual is a seasoned IT professional looking to demonstrate his or her value to the organization, or someone looking to break into the industry for the first time.

In the 17 years Microsoft has been certifying IT professionals and developers as well as office professionals, one thing has become very apparent: certification is not a piece of paper, some abbreviation next to your name, or a logo to add to your business card.
As a leader in the certification industry with more than 4 million IT professionals having earned certifications to date, Microsoft has spent considerable time and effort in conducting and commissioning research to quantify the true value of its certification.
And those modifications come at a time when the IT industry is facing significant challenges.

The IT challenge

IT organizations are confronted by two major trends: the imminent mass retirement of baby boomers, which will deplete the ranks of U.S. IT staffs, and a shortage in trained replacements due to a smaller crop of college graduates with IT degrees.

The effect of the lack of skilled IT professionals is already being felt. According to a Gartner study, 40 percent of operational downtime is due to operator error—attributable to a significant lack of training on core systems.

Additionally, there are several studies that suggest there will be a significant gap in the next five to ten years between the demand for and supply of IT professionals with the right technical skills.

Certification improves organizational performance

A study conducted by IDC looked at the organizational performance of 5,540 IT teams, examining the relationship of team performance to the percentage of the team certified on a variety of technologies. The study concluded that certification correlated positively to organizational performance improvements.

In the areas of general service excellence and specific measures of task-level performance, certification made a measurable impact:

• Seventy-five percent of managers believe that certification is important to team performance.
• Sixty-six percent of managers believe that certification improves the level of service and support offered to IT end users/customers.
• Team performance increases every time a new team member is certified.
• When you increase the concentration of certified members on a team, you directly improve team performance.
• Top-performing teams have most of the team certified on relevant technologies and processes.

The IDC study in 2008 concludes: 'Concentration of certifications in a team is clearly linked to team capability and performance. Each new certification increases team performance.

'Teams that commit themselves to achieving rigorous, validated certifications significantly outperform IT teams with out certifications,' said Cushing Anderson, IDC vice president, IT Education and Certification research. Similar work conducted by IDC on behalf of Microsoft in 2006 reported similar conclusions in relationship to the performance of Microsoft certified teams. 'Teams that I have studied certified by Microsoft meet similar performance benchmarks,' Anderson said.

A myth of certification

There is a myth that IT professionals who earn certification leave the organization quickly thereafter for better jobs. In fact, certification leads to higher job satisfaction and better employee retention.

Forty-three percent of respondents to an IDC Web-based survey in 2006 found hiring managers said that investing in employee development reduces turnover, probably because employees have increased job satisfaction and feelings of increased engagement.

An MSEmploy study, which analyzed the resumes of 15,526 IT professionals in France and Germany, found that those with one or more MCPs were 15 percent more stable, and those with full certifications were 24 percent more stable in their jobs than their peers with no certifications.

In a recent Zoomerang study, 65 percent of the certified professionals surveyed had been in their jobs 24 months or longer; 77 percent had been in their jobs one year or longer.

Certification improves staff stability, which is a good criterion for companies to evaluate the ROI of their training investment.

The journey of learning, skills improvement, and career advancement is made all the more fulfilling because of the certification process—and once certified, you become part of a vibrant community of your peers. 


To 'Get Certified' contact New Horizons Ireland (www.NewHorizonsIreland.ie) in Dublin, Galway or Belfast.