Should the help desk staff be certified?

The objective of certification programs, particularly soft skills training, is to measure certain common competencies to the standard levels required by the help desk profession. Some of the perceived benefits include improved customer satisfaction, reduced costs, better communication between the staff, customers and service partners, and greater productivity.

Few studies to date have satisfactorily quantified the results of such certification programs in the help desk industry. Some of the advantages and disadvantages are listed below.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Reduces risks; position certified professionals in critical business situations	Certification program administration can be time consuming
Enhances the consistency of delivering high quality service	The cost can be significant
Surveys suggest that productivity of a certified staff is higher	Difficult to quantify the payback; employee turnover
Creates a more homogeneous set of values and culture within the profession	No guarantee that the training transfers to knowledge
Can give the employee greater job satisfaction and increase the commitment to his/her career	Certification increases a person's marketability at the company's expense
Multiple certifications can build credibility for the next career move	The program itself may be time consuming and create staffing and/or help desk coverage problems

However, career planning and development is a critical process for job fulfillment, employee retention and competitive positioning. Career development is an organizational process, which typically begins with the human resources department and the leaders within functional departments.

Career planning is primarily an individual responsibility, motivated by an employee's career aspirations.