In today's hyper-connected economy, every company is a digital business. Technology professionals play an integral role in driving business outcomes, and that requires a new skills framework. There are new demands for IT expertise in a changing technology environment. For the individual, rapid change is driving the need for continuous skills refresh. For the enterprise, technology expertise must link to business outcomes. For the industry, a new skills framework is needed to develop cross-technology and cross-functional leaders.

The IT jobs of the future are being defined now, but many organizations and individuals are being left in the lurch. In fact, a report from the MIT Center for Digital Business Research found that nearly 80 percent of companies consider missing digital skills to be the key hurdle to digital business transformation.

To overcome this hurdle and stay ahead of disruption, a broader perspective is required -one that goes beyond the traditional infrastructure model. It's a view not limited to just a network topology or architecture discussion, but rather, one that looks to the opportunities made available through evolving technologies. Additionally, organizations must be able to use these emerging technology trends to drive business outcomes.

Raising the Bar

That's why Cisco is evolving its certification program to ensure that candidates are prepared for new and changing job roles that unfold with emerging technologies.

Core technology expertise is essential, of course, but practical IT expertise in a single, siloed technology area is no longer a differentiator. IT professionals also must have a clear understanding of the evolving and disruptive technologies that are fueling innovation.

With this evolution of the career certification program, Cisco is ensuring IT professionals are equipped with the skills and education needed for evolving technologies such as Cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), and network programmability.

A Holistic View

What does this look like on a practical level?

• A new assessment approach focused on ensuring candidates demonstrate knowledge and skills with evolving technologies.
• Equipping experts to participate in meaningful business discussions about these new technical areas that are shaping business strategy and operations.
• Inclusion of unified written and lab exam topics to demonstrate that candidates possess a holistic view of each exam domain.

This revised approach will give expert-level technologists a seat at the table for cross-functional initiatives. It will reaffirm the relevance of their expertise in the context of broader strategic discussions and technology evolution within the enterprise.

With these updates, individuals develop future-proof IT skills needed to support business outcomes, and organizations gain the confidence that their workforce is trained and skilled to maximize investments in key technologies.

Learn more about these new offerings here.

For more information on the news surrounding this, please visit our press release.