Certification Renewal, Rebooted

CompTIA addresses the tech workforce’s learning needs and increases revenue with a revamped, on-demand continuing education program.

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challenge

Adapting To Changing Learner Needs

In the constantly evolving technology industry, today’s blockchain can quickly become tomorrow’s fax machine. Tasked with mission-critical functions like managing cybersecurity and business communication, IT workers must stay on top of changing best practices – and that’s where The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) comes in.

CompTIA has helped more than 2.4 million IT professionals advance their careers and companies through its industry-recognized certifications. Since many of these certifications expire every three years, CompTIA also provides continuing education (CE) to help workers maintain their credentials and keep their skills fresh

Traditional CE programs involve a number of steps, such as attending a scheduled webinar or course and manually logging credits, making it challenging for IT professionals to fit learning into their busy schedules.

Recognizing that IT professionals are increasingly expecting a learning experience as easy to use as a consumer app, CompTIA saw an opportunity to make the process easier and more efficient so they could engage more people to renew their certifications and continue to grow in their careers.

They were also missing opportunities to drive additional revenue as IT professionals were obtaining these continuing education units outside of the CompTIA ecosystem. CompTIA knew that addressing these challenges would result in a win-win situation for both their organization and its members, and it partnered with BenchPrep to make that transformation a reality.

CompTIA dashboard

SOLUTION

Modern Methods for Modern Professionals

As the industry’s first learner success platform, BenchPrep combines a personalized, microlearning methodology with on-the-go access to improve learner engagement and outcomes. Tom Reilly, VP of Learning at CompTIA, notesthat CompTIA liked how BenchPrep’s platform was flexible enough to support a simplified recertification program while still capturing the content’s nuances.

BenchPrep’s product team also worked closely with CompTIA to map out a streamlined user experience, including an integration to automatically renew the learner’s certification upon course mastery.

In April 2017, CompTIA unveiled CertMaster CE, an on-demand, digital certification renewal program that enables members to learn at their own pace. Delivered on BenchPrep’s platform, the program features:

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Omnichannel access

We don't believe in cookie-cutter tools or one-size-fits-all solutions. Our learning program experts will help craft course design strategies tailored to the needs of your learners, your content, and your business.

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Personalized learning

Learners can choose a standard learning plan or build their own around individual strengths and weaknesses, helping them make the most of study time. Customized dashboards provide real-time feedback onprogress and performance.

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Fun and games

Daily knowledge goals, incentives, and flashcards keep learners coming back to the program.


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“Through our due diligence, we found that a lot of the legacy learning management systems on the market were not able to provide us the flexibility from a product, business, or licensing standpoint, and that we needed to create a fully scalable and dynamic process. BenchPrep helped change the game for us by bringing a completely new approach to learning program delivery.”

Tom Reilly
Chief Product Officer at CompTIA

A 1-2-3 Approach

Traditional recertification processes often require professionals to complete a lengthy, manual, burdensome series of steps:

8 step process CompTIA professionals had to go through before BenchPrep

As a result of leveraging BenchPrep’s platform the new CertMaster CE program includes just three simple steps:

3 steps of approach after CompTIA signed with BenchPrep

results

Increased Revenue, Engaged Members

Post-launch, CertMaster CE has quickly proven its value to CompTIA, its learners, and the IT community. By offering learners new options for pursuing and achieving recertification, CompTIA is:

Driving additional long-term revenue

In its first year alone, CompTIA has seen a 20 percent increase in revenue from CertMaster CE, which amounted to twice the revenue they forecasted.

20% increase in revenue, 2 times more learners and revenue
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Positioned for new recurring revenue streams

The program is also helping CompTIA regularly engage members after they complete CertMaster CE. With a “stickier” solution, members are more likely to purchase other CompTIA products and services, helping them build long-term relationships and move away from one-and-done transactions.

Helping more professional succeed

More learners are now choosing CompTIA for their professional development needs. CertMaster CE has helped 15,000 IT professionals renew, many who likely wouldn’t have done so otherwise.

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The Success Continues

As a result of the seamless implementation process, positive results, and strong feedback from CertMaster CE, CompTIA has expanded its partnership with BenchPrep to build CertMaster Learn, a comprehensive, self-paced eLearning solution that uses videos, assessments, and performance-based questions to help learners prepare for a CompTIA certification exam. By delivering CompTIA content through BenchPrep’s platform, a learner can learn, practice, and achieve mastery of a new skill through an immersive, self-paced process.

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