Kathy Gibson reports from SMEXA 2015 – The changing IT landscape means that a new set of skills is required by professional service providers – and the qualifications that used to be relevant might not be good enough today.
Get-It-Right’s Johann Botha, on behalf of APMG International, points out that professionalism talks about attitude, behaviour, learning and integrating with the audience
In the past, organisations like APMG focused on certifying skills for certain professions, and joined the plethora of training certification programmes in the market.
“Whenever there is a new certification, we want it,” says Botha. “But does it make us better at what we do?”
Customers are asking for professional services teams that deliver greater value, and are looking for professionals that can be more adaptive to the changing needs of the organisation.
APMG is launching a new portfolio of skills training that aims to produce professional services professionals – the PS Professional programme.
It has been developed to promote the importance of professionals possessing not just technical but commercial and personal strengths and expertise.
The certification covers five areas: personal effectiveness, business, commercial, technical and operational areas.
“This is designed to make people more professional in the way they interact with other people and their work,” Botha says.