The Information Technology Certification Council (ITCC) is now reviewing submissions for its ninth annual Innovation Award – an award recognizing leadership initiatives that have positively impacted the IT certification industry or your company.
We’d like to highlight some of the award’s past winners and share how the award changed things for their organization. In today’s blog, we’re catching up with 2015 Innovation Award winner – the inaugural award! – Microsoft, whose innovative program AppToCert made it easy for developers to leverage the work they had done in building real-world software applications to earn credit toward the Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) certification.
Compared to traditional certification paths, AppToCert is more economical with respect to both time and money. Developers utilizing it are able to save hundreds of dollars and months of time preparing for and earning Microsoft certifications.
Keep reading to hear from Liberty Munson, Director of Psychometrics at Microsoft.
How has winning the award helped you/your organization within ITCC or the industry? Has it opened any doors or created opportunities/connections?
It was an honor to be the first winner of the ITCC Innovation Award. It certainly helped to cement our position as a leader in innovation in the IT Certification industry. I have been building on this ever since to continue driving innovation in all that we do within our program.
For me personally, this was the first time that I really became aware of ITCC. From that point on, I wanted to learn more about the organization. Through work on the task forces, summits, and education sessions, I have been challenged in many ways that have led to insight and innovations that I have applied to our certification program.
How has winning the award helped your team within your organization? Has it changed/impacted the way leaders/teams across your organization engage or interact with your team?
This award highlighted that Microsoft is leading the way in thinking through innovative approaches to developer skills validation and credentialing, not only to our candidates but to our leadership team.
It also demonstrated to our team that we were willing to think and implement innovative approaches to validating skills that went beyond traditional approaches and that could open doors to new audiences and that Microsoft really was a leader in the IT Certification industry. Many of our leaders within Microsoft don’t realize this, so it’s great to be recognized by a third party in this regard. It really lends credibility when I say, “Microsoft is leading the way.”
What advice do you have for others who are considering submitting an application? Any tips or insights to share?
Are you doing something differently than other certification programs? If so, submit your idea. No matter how big or small the work, you never know what will capture the imagination of the judges. More importantly, simply submitting the idea is evidence that you think it’s innovative and worth sharing with your leadership team!
Learn more about the ITCC 2023 Innovation Award
To learn more about the ITCC Innovation Award, visit the 2023 Innovation Award page on the ITCC website for all the details. 2023 submissions are now being reviewed by the judging panel, and this year’s winner will be announced at the ITCC Spring Member Meeting in March.
