The challenge
IBM had multiple progression pathways to support the development of staff woking in different IT disciplines and to celebrate key milestones in their career e.g. consultant to senior consultant. These pathways held great weight within the company, but they wanted to enhance their pathways by giving weight to them externally as well, preferably through chartership.
My intervention
I worked with subject matter experts at IBM to investigate how the assessment criteria and process of three of their more established multi-level digital professional pathways’ - Solutions Architecture, Technical Specialist, Developer - matched up to BCS’ professional registrations.
Offering wise, I designed a new industry accreditation process, conducted the accreditation assessment of the pathways, achieved sign-off of the new offering from BCS’ governance, and worked with the legal team to draft template contracts and terms of reference.
The outcome
Through a thorough mapping exercise of various evidence and interviews with subject matter experts, I established alignment of eight levels of knowledge across three professional development pathways with BCS' Advanced RITTech, aimed at mid-management, Chartered IT Professional (CITP), aimed at subject matter experts with senior responsibilities, and the flagship of BCS, their Fellow membership, aimed at IT professionals that inspire change and advancement within the profession. Staff completing each of the different levels are now automatically eligible to achieve those registrations and Fellowship without further assessment.
What was the impact of the new industry accreditation offering by BCS?
A growth of clients, including two additional international consultancy companies and MOD trades in IT disciplines, that also achieved accreditation for their internal development programmes.
An accreditation model that could be used for all BCS registrations and IT progression pathways.
A revenue boost through the accreditation offering itself and an increase in registrants.