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Chapter 10. Certifications as a Branding Tool: Sponsoring a Certification Program

The most common use of certifications involves individuals completing association or vendor-based certifications to demonstrate their skills to employers or customers. Vendor-based certifications are those sponsored by manufacturers such as Cisco Systems. Association certifications, also referred to as neutral certifications, are offered by a consortium of corporations or a nonprofit organization representing an industry. From an organizational point of view, relying on existing certification programs to validate employee or reseller skills is a cost-effective approach to assessment. For organizations that rely heavily on the skill sets of their distribution channel for the success of their products or services, however, sponsoring certifications to qualify competent individuals in a reseller or a partner network might be a worthwhile investment.

Sponsoring a certification can serve as a feasible customer benefit that can help to enhance the corporate brand of the sponsoring organization. A corporate brand is often described as consistent customer experience with a product or a service. A certification program ensures a common body of knowledge among those individuals who support customer purchases with installation and troubleshooting. Certifications ensure that a common body of knowledge and skill sets across a range of diverse customer support individuals helps to meet customer expectations of a consistent post-sale experience.

Sponsoring a certification might involve creating exams that assess an individual's proficiency with skills. A manufacturer relying on a reseller network to service or support might choose to link discount rates or benefits to skills development. Certifications can play a role in validating which of the resellers or partners have acquired the necessary skills to service or support the product.

Certifications offer the sponsoring organization the confidence that

Customer leads and requests will be well managed.

Partners or resellers have made a commitment of skills and talent.

Best practices are permeating through the reseller network.

For the partners or resellers, certifications are valuable because those demonstrate

Commitment to current and potential customers

Advantage over competition

Expertise in deploying, delivering, or supporting the sponsoring organization

A review of the Cisco Partner Program certification offers a perspective into planning and defining a certification program to strengthen the reseller channel. The following case explains the program briefly and highlights the most important features.