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(Blog Series)

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Welcome everyone to the credentials program brand new blog series!

 

Our mission? – We believe in openness and transparency, trustful collaborations, constant reinvention, and proactivity from feedback to execution.

In this blog, we will talk about Team and Strategy.

Note: Included here will be a list of other blogs in this series where we will share vital information about the IBM Digital Credentials Program.

So, let’s get started!

 

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1. Meet the Team

As we are days away from issuing our 6 millionth badge, it is fair to expect that most readers would already have earned an IBM badge.

And, with over three thousand badge offerings, issued by hundreds of different badge-issuing organizations, many using different training platforms (IBM internal, GTPs, Coursera and edX) … ‘you may be wondering who are the mighty team members behind the IBM badge program which makes them all work so seamlessly?

Well, this is your chance to meet them!  We plan to feature each member on future blogs, so stay tuned.

The truth may surprise you, as our core team has a unique structure, featuring a great example of open collaboration and coming together as one IBM, a cornerstone of our IBM culture, where team members from both IBM Training and IBM Human Resources work harmoniously to agree and execute on a single vision and strategy.

So without further ado, here is the core team behind the credentials program in alphabetic order:

Alexander Ziegler

Program Director, Training & Skills

Finance and Operations

 

 

 

 

     

Caryn Buddie

IBM Digital Badge Program Offering Manager

CHQ, Human Resources

 

 

 

 

Iris Osper

Project Manager (PMP®) for Streamlining Badge Portfolio, Newsletter, and Education Partners

Finance and Operations

 

 

 

 

 

Juan Pablo Napoli

Digital Credentials Program Director

Finance and Operations

 

 

 

Kristin Wall

IBM Professional Certification Program Manager

Finance and Operations

 

 

 

 

 

   

Larissa Custodio

Program Coordinator for IBM Digital Credentials

CHQ, Human Resources

 

 

 

 

Lauri Ross

Program Coordinator, IBM Digital Credentials Program

Finance and Operations

 

 

We work with hundreds of badge issuers, maintaining a relevant global portfolio in the skills market which is one of the most competitive spaces today, ensuring that the IBM Credentials program maintains its leadership position in the industry.

So, if you are a badge issuer, you are very likely to be working with members of our team already on the strategic and/or operational priorities we are driving this year.

And know that you can always count on our team being ready to engage on relevant opportunities in the credential space. We have a strong passion for every client’s success and a desire for constant innovation for our company and the world.

To learn more about our team members’ individual responsibilities visit our IBM internal page.

 

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2. Our Strategy

The IBM Credentials program is one of the very few programs that covers all the aspects of IBM’s corporate business profile globally.

This allows us to truly view our company through a single lens and presents us with the unique opportunity of defining IBM’s global posture in terms of skills recognition.

Which presents a dual responsibility for our team:

— Being at the top of our corporate strategy, drives us to spearhead change, driving new exciting programs to light, adjusting to accommodate to changes in the program strategy that have a profound impact on the way our clients, our partners, and overall the industry sees us.

— On the other hand, we need to ensure that we maintain the current level of governance, management, and support for the badge-issuing programs that represent the majority of our offerings today, programs that have captured over time a market and audience of their own.

In order for our team to focus on tangible outcomes addressing our clients’ needs through innovation, this year we ran a design thinking workshop with key stakeholders in the IBM Center for Learning in Armonk, US.

 

The workshop outcomes laid a path for us to work on several strategic initiatives which we will cover in individual blog posts as part of this series.

The identified key strategic initiatives aim to achieve the following goals:

• Learners closer to getting a new job, driving higher volume and enrollment in credentials, addressing skill gaps with a stronger program aligned to in-demand tech careers.
• Faster hires, higher qualified candidate pools, and less bias via credentials as the gatekeepers.
• Less attrition, higher engagement, and faster time to productivity (TTP).
• Market recognition, brand awareness, greater enrollments, and talent attraction.
• Market shift from resume to a digital wallet of skills.

These initiatives are poised for real impact, addressing the needs of our clients and driving innovation for our company and for the world.

Join us as we work together to bring our IBM talent, our partner ecosystem, our corporate clients, and our extended audiences together in this strategic shift to increased value for credentials.

Stay tuned for more details in the future blogs of this series.