Finding qualified professionals – or even being able to recognize qualified professionals when they see them – is still a hurdle for employers.
(PRWEB) July 16, 2014
The global oversupply of labor and undersupply of talent is a crisis that organizations, governments, and societies at large are facing. EC-Council, an ISO/IEC 17024 Accredited Certification Body, has established the Institute of iBusiness (IIB), an innovative organization offering vendor neutral certifications in the fields of digital marketing, sales, strategy, operations, and accounting, among others in response to this problem.
ManpowerGroup's 2013 Talent Shortage Survey found that 35% of global employers are struggling to fill open positions even during times of high unemployment. Millions of graduates are joining the global job market each year, but yet employers believe that most applicants just don’t have the right skills. The goal of the IIB is to offer personnel conformity assessments that independently assesses business managers’ competencies and capabilities against accepted industry standards, thereby increasing the competitiveness and productivity of business professionals enrolled in the program. .
With the rapid advancement in the ever-changing technology landscape, the talent crisis has become worse. Digitization across the various business functions has disrupted how businesses operate and rendered non-IT savvy business professionals obsolete. By 2018, the United States is predicted to have a shortfall of 1.5 million managers and analysts with sufficient digital skills.
EC-Council, the world’s only ISO/IEC 17024 certification body that offers multi-disciplinary business certifications, is launching IIB to address the growing need for highly demanded internet business (iBusiness) managers by providing advanced, highly technical training programs designed with industry practitioners to ensure that content are current and relevant. IIB programs will bridge the capabilities gap by equipping business managers with industry-accepted digital management knowledge and skills in various domains, spanning from strategy and operations to marketing, HR, and accounting through a hands-on approach, enabling participants to apply the latest digital technologies to real-life case studies.
“We live in a time when there are too many business people without jobs and too many jobs without people. This is primarily due to a global skills mismatch between what employers expect and what business professionals possess,” says Jay Bavisi, CEO, EC-Council. “With this in mind, EC-Council brainchild, the Institute of iBusiness, was created to train and certify business professionals on knowledge and technical skills that are highly demanded in the job market to attain operational excellence,” adds Bavisi.
The first program IIB will launch is the Digital Marketing Certification Series. As marketing jobs become increasingly technical and data driven, IIB recognizes that seasoned marketers as well as those looking to break into the industry are in need of training. SEO, web analytics, mobile, content marketing, and social media are skills that nearly every marketing job requires, but finding qualified professionals – or even being able to recognize qualified professionals when they see them – is still a hurdle for employers. IIB’s first digital marketing certifications are Certified Digital Marketer (CDM), Certified Internet Marketing Practitioner (CIMP), and Certified Digital Marketer (CDM).
Experienced digital marketing managers may apply for CDM under the Grandfathering provision until October 30th, 2014. CIMP instructor-led training, online training, and certification exams will be available starting August 1st, 2014.
These programs were formed by the EC-Council Digital Marketing Advisory Board, which includes leading subject matter experts such as Katrina Klier (Global Managing Director, Digital Marketing & Communications, Accenture), Rajnish Narayanan (Digital Marketing Strategists, WSI Canada), Ryan Corey (VP – Marketing & Sales, TrainACE), Stephen Murphy (Partner, Red Bamboo Marketing), and Steve Robinson (Founder, Digital-First Marketing Consultant, Brilliant Metrics).
“We want to increase business people’s chances in finding jobs or securing better jobs. By equipping our students with the industry’s most-demanded skills and latest cutting edge knowledge, we help increase their competitiveness in the job market,” says Hanan Wagie, Executive Director, Institute of iBusiness.
About EC-Council Institute of iBusiness (IIB)
EC-Council Institute of iBusiness (IIB) offers vendor –neutral training and certifications for business managers specializing in the fields of strategy, marketing, sales, operations, HR and accounting. The primary focus of IIB certified programs is on the application of technical and digital skills that are highly demanded in the industry. IIB programs are built by industry practitioners for industry practitioners. To date, EC-Council has trained more than 200,000 professionals and certified more than 90,000 professionals in more than 100 countries globally. EC-Council, is the only ISO/IEC 17024 accredited certification body that offers multi-disciplinary business management certifications.