The OpenWater Blog

3 Ways You’re Killing Your Certification Program

What do you do when you know the system you have in place right now for certifications just isn’t enough? As your agency/organization’s certification administrator, you’re likely feeling lost about what you could be doing better to deliver better results for your clients.

But there’s only so much you could be doing with an inadequate project management tool. What’s wrong with the sticking with the status quo in managing certifications? Let’s take a look.

1. Insisting on a old-fashioned, on-premise program

Without a cloud-based tool, there simply is no way you can keep track of the certification process in the most productive way. Did the applicant meet the standards of certification? Did you assign someone, or multiple people, to review it? Did the reviewer get through all the applications on time? Ticking off all the items in the checklist without a systems software that ensures all parties involved – applicants, reviewers, and administrators – are in the loop and kept happy, is incredibly challenging.

2. Having an imperfect system…and settling for it.

Let’s say you use an excel operating system to do this. Or maybe a pdf application form that submitters have to fill out by hand and submit a scanned copy. This is an extra step in processing that can have pretty lasting consequences – especially whenever your clients have to get re-certified (which is pretty often in the certification world!) and there is an update to the criteria, and as a result, an update to the application. At some point, the new and updated form has to be disseminated to existing clients, creating that extra step of processing that creates administrative chaos. This just goes to show that without a cloud-based tool that lets you automate the application process, administrators are going to be stuck with a menial and repetitive process with plenty of spots where they could go wrong.

3. What you don’t know CAN hurt you.

Why is the process of monitoring and analyzing web data and analytics so important in a certification management process? The answer to that would be, how can companies measure success without monitoring the data? With a Certification Management System, administrators can track applications with a click of a button and applicants can access their filing history without having to lift a single file box.

Why have your employees pour over 100 hours of work (on average what certification specialists spend sorting through applications during peak season) when the whole process could be simplified to just a few clicks?

Still not sure if an Certification Management Software is what you need? Click here to find out more about OpenWater’s Certification Management Software solution and Growthstack.

Already with OpenWater’s Certification Management Software? Have you checked if your organization is OpenWater certified? Hurry! Check out our calendar to find out about upcoming webinars and certification programs.

davidl

Here’s Why Students Aren’t Applying to your Scholarships

3 Fields Where Accreditation Software Is Making a Difference