For IT leaders, developing employees’ skills through industry certifications can add value to their organizations and address customer pain points even as the tech industry continues to struggle to fill crucial roles.
Certifications in the IT environment have a number of benefits, including shorter resolution times, projects moving faster, smoother deployments, and increased employee retention. A recent report from Skillsoft,found that cloud computing skills remain in high demand and that IT professionals skilled in cloud computing, security, data privacy, and risk management are well positioned for success.
The survey saw over 2,000 professionals in the U.S. participate and was distributed by Skillsoft and its partners, including CompTIA, Google Cloud, ISACA, Nutanix, Cisco, Microsoft, and CQURE.
“This year’s list shows that cloud computing skills remain in high demand and can be quite lucrative for tech professionals,” said Greg Fuller, vice president of Codeacademy Enterprise. “Overall, the IT job market is characterized by a significant imbalance between supply and demand, which continues to drive salaries higher. Our data suggests that tech professionals skilled in cloud computing, security, data privacy, and risk management, as well as able to handle complex, multi-faceted IT environments, will be well positioned for success.”
According to Skillsoft, dedicating time to earning certifications can have great return on investment. For employers, their employees can gain additional skills and bring value to their business. For the employees, improving their skills can translate to pay raises, promotions, or new employment opportunities.
Earning a new certification can take time, money, and a lot of effort, so individual employees should check with their employers to see if training is already offered to earn the sought after certification.
Skillsoft also reported that most IT leaders who took the survey said they see value in both training and certifications, and they understand that training improves team morale and attrition. Additionally, they see that certifications lead to increased revenue, meeting client requirements, and winning new business.
If you’ve been in the IT industry for more than 24 hours, there’s a strong chance you’ve heard about AI and its impact on the channel. According to the IT Skills and Salary survey, professionals with AI skills are the toughest to hire for.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Outlook Report found that AI and machine learning specialists are the fastest-growing jobs and demand has increased drastically.
However, the Skillsoft survey found that 43 percent of IT leaders say their team’s skills in AI need improvement and the main reason for the lacking skill is the pace of change. Training programs can’t keep up with the speed of technology development.
“Leaders must recognize that to get the full potential of AI, they need to empower their teams to work effectively with this technology,” the survey states. “There must be an urgent focus on acquiring the skills and knowledge needed – or risk falling even more behind.”
So what are the best certifications that one should pursue for your MSP? Beyond training for AI, there are key certifications that Channel Insider has identified that can help validate your team’s expertise, deliver top-tier IT services, and enhance your firm’s IT capabilities.
This certification is essential for MSPs as it focuses on security and can specify your team’s expertise in a broad range of security topics, such as risk management, asset security, and security architecture.
This certification is globally recognized and is highly valuable for MSPs that handle sensitive client data or complex security environments.
This certification is an important one for MSPs that provide cloud-based solutions and covers essential areas such as cloud architecture, governance, and risk management. It ensures that your organization can handle specific security requirements for cloud environments.
The CCSP certification validates your team’s ability to manage cloud security risks and compliance, positions your organization as a leader in cloud security, and provides clients with confidence in your organization’s ability to secure their cloud-based assets.
This certification validates your team’s expertise in designing and deploying scalable, highly available, and fault-tolerant systems on AWS. MSPs offering cloud services based on the AWS platform and covering topics like advanced networking, security, and complex deployments can benefit greatly from this certification.
AWS is one of the largest cloud platforms in the world today so demonstrating your organization’s capability to leverage AWS for diverse business needs is critical. It ensures that you can design robust and secure solutions using AWS.
This certification is key for MSPs that use Microsoft Azure’s cloud services, validating expertise in designing and implementing Azure solutions and covering areas such as cloud infrastructure, security, and solution deployment.
Additionally, the certification ensures your organization can design scalable and secure solutions using Azure.
Lastly, this crucial certification focuses on ethical hacking techniques that are key to identifying and addressing security vulnerabilities. MSPs that offer security assessments or penetration testing services and cover a range of tools and techniques, such as Nmap, Metasploit, Wireshark, and others, can greatly benefit from this certification.
This certification equips MSPs with skills to conduct thorough security assessments and identify vulnerabilities, which are essential to providing robust security services.
The employment landscape for IT skills is constantly shifting and moving. Read more about which skills are most sought after and how to embrace skills-based hiring.
