Cisco Expands Learning Portfolio with New Certifications

Cisco is expanding its learning portfolio with new business architecture training and certifications designed to develop skills, tools and best practices to help partners them establish linkage between the San Jose-based vendor’s technology solutions and customer business needs.

The new Cisco Business Architecture Analyst Certification is intended to extend a general awareness of business architecture principles and provides a methodology for uncovering a company’s business goals. These desired outcomes could then be bridged to the technology solutions.

The Cisco Business Architecture Specialist Certification is intended to build upon the foundational skills and knowledge assessed at the Analyst level with a focus on change management and the creation of a customized transformation roadmap.

Cisco’s Business Architecture Practitioner Certification expands upon the Specialist level by validating a candidate’s mastery in leveraging tools, methodologies and best practices to bridge IT solutions with the organization’s business goals. Participants will be assessed for their ability to create and map the customer engagement journey to deliver tangible business outcomes and value.

“As Cisco helps customers transform their businesses, we’re leveraging our expertise and leadership to address both technology and talent concerns across the industry,” said Tejas Vashi, senior director of product strategy and marketing at Cisco Services. “Understanding business architecture is key as business transformation continues, because successful organizations will increasingly rely on professionals who can foster flexibility and cross-functional collaboration to deliver optimal business outcomes.”

These new offerings broaden Cisco’s Business Transformation portfolio initiatives, launched in April 2017, with the introduction of the Customer Success Manager certification.

Channel Impact^®
This initiative will likely help to address critical talent needs that are well documented within the tech industry. The company quotes recent analyst reports saying that only about 15 percent of organizations feel they have the right talent in place to support digital transformation.