The benefits of certification

Gaining a professional certification isn't easy - but then again, it's not meant to be. A professional certification sets a person apart as someone who's exceptional, who really knows his/her job.

Benefits for organisations

• Teams are trained to consistent skills levels.
• Certification provides a recognised benchmark of skills that can be aligned to organisational skills frameworks.
• Certificated people are typically more productive and work to consistent standards. A recent survey by Novell found that certification can reduce downtime, because staff members have the skills needed to cope with issues as they arise - and that certified people made more use of a product's advanced features and could deploy new products with greater ease.
• More reliable project completion: a Microsoft survey showed that when 60% of a team is Microsoft-certified, 80% of projects are delivered on time and within budget, compared to just 40% when only 25% of the team is certified.
• Gaining certifications can be aligned to performance-related pay.
• Certification ensures that knowledge has been retained.
• Greater customer satisfaction (internal and external customers).
• Lower staff turnover.

Benefits for individuals

• Certified people are more employable: according to an IDC white paper, "Sixty-three percent of hiring managers believe certified individuals are more productive than their non-certified counterparts."
• You could earn more: a survey of MCPs by IDC found that 43% got a pay rise after gaining their certification.
• Some certifications make you part of a professional network, for example, Microsoft Certified Professionals belong to a community that only they can access.

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.