199 Kevin Streater Your certification program better be resume worthy

Many enterprise software companies face the question, “Should we create a certification program?” To answer this question properly, a company needs to understand it’s customers well. Kevin Streater, VP of ForgeRock University at ForgeRock, joins Helping Sells Radio to help us sort this out. 

Kevin is also a member of the British Computer Society Chartered Institute for IT and a member of the Customer Education Management Association Europe (CEdMA) and prior to ForgeRock, spent numerous years running education services at SunMicrosystems. Kevin is eminently qualified to discuss the topic of building valuable software certification programs. 

Back to the question, “Should we create a certification program?”

There are two main things to consider:

1. Will customers be proud to display the certification? 

2. Is the certification resume worthy?

If you are not prepared to to have customers answer yes to those two questions, you might not want to create a certification program. 

Certification programs require vision, planning, and a long term commitment. You are not just helping people learn and use your software. You are creating a mechanism for someone to advance their careers, which is a meaningful endeavor to say the least. 

If your goal is to help people learn and use your software, there is little need for a certification program. High quality customer training will do the trick. 

If your goal is to create a market of people who will buy your software wherever in their careers they go, then you likely should create a certification program. 

Learn more about Kevin:

1. On Linkedin

2. ForgeRock University

3. CEdMA