Over the past few years, the title of “IT Specialist” has become a widely used term within the technology industry. IT professionals have grown increasingly involved not just in technical matters, but also in business matters. Despite IT’s evolving and ever more integral role within business environments, the stereotypical perception of the “IT guy” remains: he is good for one thing – deep technical skills and little else.

But the stereotypes of the code-obsessed “IT guy” are no longer true. Businesses today require IT Specialists who can understand business requirements and actualize IT systems to meet a company’s needs on both sides of the equation. IT Specialists not only need to possess strong technical skills, but they must possess strong personal and business skills in order to work with clients and provide value. Today’s IT Specialists have to bridge the gap between business functions and departments while still maintaining the technical expertise to architect, develop, and manage the IT environment.

Given all of this, how can a CIO guarantee that they’re hiring IT Specialists who possess the proper abilities, experience and skills?

A CIO or Enterprise Architect building a team needs to be able to look for IT Specialists whose experience meets an accepted set of professional standards. When hiring accountants or lawyers, a business will look at a slew of credentials. CIOs and HR are just now beginning to exercise the same kind of rigor for IT Specialists.

For example, large IT consulting firms like IBM and Capgemini and their clients are increasingly looking to certification programs for their IT Specialists. Some companies have developed their own certification programs. But these proprietary programs are costly to administer and don’t overcome the challenge of recruiting the right talent in the first place.

While industry certification programs do exist and offer some level of assurance, the vast majority aren’t a good indicator of one’s ability to execute because they measure knowledge, not experience. Joe Certification might look great on paper, but lack the real world experience and communication skills to get the job done right. Standardized “skills and experience” based certification, on the other hand, benefits both IT Specialist practitioners as well as the companies that employ them.

For IT Specialists themselves, certification against an open, global standard can help provide a clear, motivating path for career development, as well as provide portable credentials that will be recognized and accepted globally. This class of certification also allows IT Specialists membership in a community of peers that share the same skills and background, values and standards within their profession – akin to a certified accountant or licensed MD.

Gone are the days where there are distinct divisions between the “suits” and the “geeks.” Today, not only must the systems that we work with be interdependent, collaborative, and interoperable, but we must be also. Today, the success of IT-enabled business depends on the skills and experience of certified IT Specialists who can bridge that old divide.

(Note: My colleague, Brian Mitsuki of IBM, also agrees with the need for certified IT specialists, and he collaborated with me on this post.)

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