CIOs Question Value Of Certifications

/**/ /**/

While certifications often are required to achieve a specific partner-level status or to assure partners the consultants servicing their organizations are qualified, some midsize CIOs say certifications are overvalued. Some CIOs go as far to say certifications have no weight in the customer's ultimate purchasing decision.

"The bottom line is people do business with people, and relationships which establish long-standing partnerships are less affected by [certifications] than the fact that I know how a partner will react in a difficult circumstance," said Ed Eskew, CIO at Bernard Chaus, a Secaucus, N.J.-based women's apparel manufacturer.

Over time, solution providers show their colors with their actions, not by what hangs on their wall, he said. "They either have your back or they don't. I find out very quickly one way or the other, and all the A+ certifications in the world won't help if they run for cover rather than step up and take a bullet," Eskew said. "Credentials seldom tell the real story. All they show is that someone read the book and passed the test. They do not speak to how someone, a VAR, partner, or consultant, will handle themselves in a challenging situation."

Tom Dunnigan, CIO of South Carolina Student Loan, said certifications are a key to help solution providers get through the door to his organization, but that's about it. "[It's] an indication of credibility and commitment to an expertise that is a possible solution," Dunnigan said. "Both industry and vendor certifications can help create this perception to get a dialogue started with us."

But once a VAR gets through that door and the technology selection process begins, certifications are all but forgotten, he said.

"From that point forward, the reseller has to pass the screening by our technical folks and then contractually commit to deliver with some degree of risk sharing," he said.

Tom Amrhein, director of information services for Forrester Construction, Rockville, Md., agreed that it's better to put more credence on skills than certifications. "I've known too many people that focus on learning the tests to take much credence in certifications," Amrhein said. "As an employer, or a customer of a VAR, what we really look for is someone who's done the stuff that's required, or made the leap from understanding technology to applying it," Amrhein said. "If you have the experience and done it before, lot of times certification becomes a lot less important."

Amrhein is a proponent of vendor-based training, he said. That's the best way to learn what the vendor itself considers key. But third-party certifications don't hold much value to him. "If someone told me they were 100 percent Comptia certified, I'd just assume they were anyway. That's the minimum requirement to do the job well," Amrhein said.

Todd Thibodeaux, CEO of Comptia, said his organization's certifications make better-skilled, better-motivated IT workers. "They make a conscious decision to improve their skill set. Using that as a basis, it makes someone who is better equipped in the job market. Whether that's immediately visible to someone three steps removed is a question," Thibodeaux said. "The CIO who is a few steps removed may not have the best perspective."