Importance of IBM Badges to Mainframe Organizations
With online learning now being a staple in most Organizations’ workforce training programs, it was inevitable that the way credentials are awarded would change. Badges are the new way to award learning and accomplishments and they are so revolutionary that the Harvard Business Review identified badges as one of the four most innovative trends to watch!
Why are IBM Open Badges Worth Embracing?
IBM Open Badges are a simple but very effective way of accrediting mainframe learning. The badge, in essence a digital certification, permanently links back to IBM. It is issued to a learner and reveals core information such as the issuing authority, contact details, date undertaken, learning activity, evidence of achievement, and date of expiry if appropriate. Therefore, the badge can always be validated and verified.
Just ask your HR department how badges will benefit workplace learning. They will be ecstatic! Any employer who has gone through the pain of education verification checks will be elated. From a learner's perspective, this is so much better than lengthy paper-work trails to find long-lost certifications.
Exponential Increase in eLearning Results and ROI!
IBM uses elearning extensively in their own workforce training program. They introduced IBM Open Badges in an attempt to attract more talent and improve elearning course completion rates. Within a few months of adding IBM Open Badges to their workforce training program, they saw the following benefits:
Consider the Competitive Advantage!
If you are a Mainframe Services Organization, think of the competitive advantage of displaying a mainframe workforce with hundreds or even thousands of badges earned. It shows an IBM endorsed commitment to capability and excellence that will be impossible for your potential clients to ignore.
Your Organization’s Learning Reputation in the Mainframe Community
With every IBM Badge earned, your mainframe organization will be known as an employer who invests in the excellence of its mainframe workforce. This will attract the best and brightest mainframe personnel to work for you!
Employees who utilize and share IBM Open Badges, especially if they are supported fully by your organization, feel especially positive about their utilization. These employees most often cite their ability to share not only the badges themselves, but also the rigorous processes to earn the badge as well as their new qualifications as a result of earning the badge.
IBM Open Badges Motivate Employees to Drive Their Own Development
There is no denying that the game mechanics and psychology that underpin Badges work. People are incredibly motivated by badges! Once they’ve earned one, they want to earn another. Ultimately Badges, because of growing digital currency, are a much stronger incentive than a piece of paper.
This an important point! As learning in the corporate sector has become more informal, the employee’s motivation to drive their own development has become pivotal to their performance, and to the performance of the organization as a whole!
Open badges can credential your in-house training!
Sure you can print off certificates of completion for employees who undertake in-house IBM Power Systems Training offerings, only for them to be pinned to a workstation or hidden in a drawer. And yes, corporates typically track and record completion statuses in their LMS, but that lacks visibility for pretty much everyone but the employee him- or herself.
In contrast, open badges offer visibility. They can be shown off on intranet profile and social media. Badges therefore give corporates the opportunity to recognize the employees who have completed their in-house training, within an enterprise-wide framework.
And NEVER FORGET, these IBM credentialed, z Systems Mainframe Badges are a recognized, respected and valued benchmark for z Systems Mainframe Knowledge and Skills in the global Mainframe Computing Industry!