Last year a door closed and an aircraft hangar door glided open. 2018 was a record year for new product launches and exam translations. 2019 will see those products soaring to success.
The digital skills shortage has created a demand for internationally recognised certification
Customers demand solutions that deliver results quickly. More frequently those solutions need to be tailorable, easy to implement and ideally have complimentary supporting learning materials which are available online. As the world gets smaller and workers become geographically diverse the appeal of internationally recognised certifications has grown. Candidates want to take exams in their first language and last year we released a record number of exam translations. There's also a trend towards vendor-neutral approaches and content which is freely available via a Creative Commons licence such as Praxis FrameworkTM.
The need for businesses to evolve has opened a door to help highly-skilled professionals navigate their organisations through digital transformation programmes. Last year we launched ten highly targeted certifications to provide professionals with the knowledge they need to help themselves and their organisations survive and thrive the digital era: AgileDS®, DASA DevOps Product Owner, BiSL Next, COBIT 2019, Computerworld University (CWU) Business IT Certification, Enterprise Big Data Professional Certification, FitSM®, ITWNET – Digital Transformation, SIAMTM and VeriSMTM .
AgilePM® soared high with 100,000 exams. Candidates stated in the December 2018 Trusted Training RadarTM Report that the certification led to an improvement in organisational agility, optimised project delivery and cost reduction. Over the next three years I expect AgilePM to reach 250,000 exams as an increasing number of organisations adopt an agile culture and embed AgilePM into their business.
2018 was also the year for Change. As businesses invest in digital services or need to improve the way in which they work, the Change Management certification helps motivate and ease people into organizational change.
The underlying driving success for these certifications and others is that they solve a current and relevant problem for many organisations across the globe. When APMG launched the cyber portfolio in 2014 this was a small part of our business which has now become very relevant. Predicting the products which will soar is possible if you can help close a skills gap or solve a business problem with a proven solution which delivers results.
I still find it hard to believe that my APMG start-up had its 25th birthday last year. Everything and nothing has changed. We are still an accreditation, certification and examination body but the tech, products, offices and customers have evolved. In 1993 owning a digital camera would have been considered a digital service. Today digital services are intrinsic but technology never stands still. I'm excited to see what opportunities come through my door this year.
