Celebrating 30 years of upskilling professionals and helping organisations achieve best practice

The past three decades has seen a rapid transformation in the way learner’s study and take assessments. APMG has been at the heart of transforming how professionals learn and access new skills. By working closely with leading organisations across the globe today we have an extensive portfolio of over 100 products, and our best practice certification schemes are used by 80% of the FTSE 100 and over a third of the Fortune 500 and S&P 500.

When APMG was established learning took place in a classroom with books and paper exams. In 1993, the year APMG started, the creation of web browsers for the World Wide Web changed how we access information, how we work and study. The web created a new knowledge economy, and a need for digital skills and new processes. APMG has been at the forefront of advancing digital and specialist skills.

Early on we had that lucky break every start-up needs. We were introduced to a commercial opportunity by Adrian Dooley (Projects group and Project Manager Today) regarding PRINCE2. We were lucky to meet Tony Betts and Pippa Newman (Bass) of CCTA who were willing to back our business plan and Colin Bentley agreed to be our Chief Examiner and Patrick Mayfield our Chief Assessor. Their collective support was instrumental in securing our first major opportunity. We celebrated accrediting our first ever training organization.

At the time we were launching PRINCE2, there was an existing community of training companies delivering PRINCE training. We invited them to a meeting at the civil service training college in Sunningdale. Tony Levene, an independent trainer was the first to agree to be accredited as, in his words at the time, “would give me the same status as the major players.” The others followed Tony’s lead. This was a huge milestone for us; what we had set out to do was coming into fruition: to provide the means to help organizations improve their governance, people and processes - a mission statement that is just as relevant today as it was 30 years ago. At the time we thought we would sell 500 exams a year, no one else was convinced but working with that initial group of training companies we introduced weekly exams to avoid the crush of “exams once a quarter” which was common. We introduced regular meetings with the training companies and from the support and engagement we knew this was the beginning of something really exciting.

In 2008, Jorn Wigh approached us to translate PRINCE2 into Danish and that was the start of our international expansion. In order to keep up with the progression of technology, APMG completely changed the way we conducted our Practitioner exams. We switched from an essay-based structure to objective testing online. This was a revolutionary technological transition for APMG, as it saved a huge amount of time: previously, every exam had been marked manually.

Between 2009-2010, we introduced our Agile Project Management certification. Today, our Agile Project Management certification is the most popular Agile framework in the world.

Soon after we hit the milestone of 2 million APMG exams taken worldwide, and we could not have done this without all the hard work and dedication from our partnering training organizations, scheme owners, and candidates.

Today, 60 scheme owners have partnered with APMG for over 10 years, we have an extensive portfolio of over 100 products, and our best practice certification schemes are used by 80% of the FTSE 100 and over a third of the Fortune 500 and S&P 500, and are proven to deliver better outcomes. Being an accreditation body, it is worth mentioning that accreditation is a highly skilled and specialised domain; 39% of our colleagues have been with us for over 10 years, which provides a firm foundation to train new colleagues to a high level.

We are incredibly proud to have worked with so many organizations to help individuals progress in their career and excel in their professional life, as well as helping individuals keep up with the movement in skill demand.

When APMG was first established in 1993, cyber security and digital skills simply did not exist.

Now, it is a significant portion of our portfolio. This aptly reflects the rate in which technology has advanced in the last 30 years, and the shift into a new digital age.  As a company that aims to help our candidates develop professionally, APMG has updated products to reflect the rate in which technology is developing, and thereby ensuring our products encompass the skills required for candidates to remain relevant.

In Harvard Business Review’s article titled “How to Get Hired in the Era of Generative AI” they estimated that “approximately 75% of companies are looking to adopt big data, cloud computing, and AI in the next five years”.

For individuals that want to get ahead of the curve and position themselves as more employable, take a look through Big Data, Cloud Computing and AI related certifications; at APMG we offer a wide range of relevant certifications, for example, our Enterprise Big Data certification focuses on upskilling individuals with vendor-neutral expertise in Big Data; or, to take another example, our Artificial Intelligence certification offers training in the general principles of AI, its potential implications and capabilities, and how to assess AI products and services from multiple angles.

However, it’s not only big data and AI related skills that companies will be on the lookout for. In a recent report from Mckinsey & Company, “Demand for technological, social and emotional, and higher cognitive skills will rise by 2030. How will workers and organizations adapt?” It states that “a key to companies’ future success will be in providing continuous learning options and instilling a culture of lifelong learning throughout the organization.”

At APMG, we have made it our objective to ensure our qualifications encompass core skills that remain relevant over the last thirty years and beyond, like communication, management, teamwork and adaptability. With over 100 certification options to choose from, we cover a wide range of learning options, from our Agile Project Management certification which comprises communication and stakeholder engagement skills that are in high demand, to our Business Relationship Management certification which explores the quintessential role of “Relationshipism” in business.  There is something for everyone, in every area of business. Aptly, it is becoming increasingly popular for companies to encourage, or even render it mandatory for their employees to take relevant certifications to their business, helping to facilitate the lifelong learning culture touched upon in Mckinsey’s article.

Now more than ever we have seen a rise in demand for specialist skills that compliment broader job roles. Take our certification Better Business Cases as an example; the course provides Project Manager’s with the knowledge they need to write business cases to a high standard. Although this may not be their main role, having this capability allows them to stand out from project managers who are not qualified in this field. Similarly, our APMP certification is catered to professionals involved in the bidding and tendering process, but again, this may not be their full-time role. Gaining these additional skills may just be the difference between getting that job or not.