Organizational leaders experience significant pressure to lead their organizations into the future. However, identifying opportunities can often feel impossible because of the pace of change in the 21st century¹. As seen in Figure 1, the rapid pace of innovation in the world is unprecedented. According to the World Economic Forum, “It took 2.4 million years for our ancestors to control fire and use it for cooking, but 66 years to go from the first flight to humans landing on the moon,”² and technology continues to drive the pace of innovation faster than ever.

While technology is a key driver in innovation, changes in demographics, education and work also offer opportunities for credentialing organizations to reevaluate their credentials, programs and services to ensure they are meeting the needs of the users, customers and credential holders of the future. For example, birth rates have been falling since the great recession of 2007.^3. These falling birth rates and an increased trend of adolescents not pursuing higher education have created a 15% decline in higher education enrollment between 2010 and 2021. These trends, combined with the wave of retirements anticipated among baby boomers, offer credentialing organizations an opportunity to help fill the burgeoning skills gap through offering certifications, certificates and micro-credentials.

For credentialing organizations to understand the opportunities of the future, the voice of the customer and forward-thinking credentialing approaches are needed to understand emerging needs and build a culture of innovation into their operations.

Figure 1.

Voice of the Customer

Credentialing is a science-based industry with a strong history of conducting research. However, we often fail to uncover emerging changes in our fields until they become established practice. We can gain better insights into shifting needs and evolving preferences by directly engaging with and actively listening to our stakeholders through more open, qualitative research methods. Supplementing traditional user surveys with interviews, focus groups and usage data is a priority to obtain early signals that enable our credentialing products to better anticipate demands and prioritize products that resonate with our stakeholders.

An extensive, mixed-methods research initiative conducted with a certifying body that incorporated both quantitative and qualitative data uncovered clear preferences for credentials with incorporated education due to the needs of a growing population of high school graduates among their stakeholders. This population had a high fear of failure and a lack of experience in traditional certifications, strongly preferring education paired with assessments to indicate achievements. Further research also identified a higher degree of employer support for education-based programs over conventional certifications. This created the basis for a strategy to replace many of their existing certifications with stackable micro-credentials with incorporated education to close skill gaps and grow their program.

Recent technological evolutions also make qualitative research and analysis easier to conduct. Through AI-enabled transcript services and qualitative analysis tools, research results are far easier to parse, trend and create outcomes at a lower cost than ever.

Program and Product Innovation

Hearing current customers' insights, perspectives and pain points offers organizations a rich source of data that can be used to innovate credentials, programs and services. For example, in 2015 one certification board heard from many individuals that they did not meet the eligibility requirements of one of their three role-based certification products.  Potential candidates were frequently reaching out to say that the role was no longer conducting the job tasks and/or responsibilities captured in the eligibility criteria. The certification board investigated what was changing in the role. They discovered that the role was changing significantly, but the changes had not yet emerged in their job task analysis results. Concurrently, other feedback was being received indicating that professionals were looking for other credentials that were not currently offered. As a result of the feedback received and the certification board’s investigations, it reenvisioned its role-based certifications and decided that a generalist-type certification in the profession was required. After that certification, individuals could pursue microcredentials — certifications in specific topics or tasks — to build a unique portfolio of credentials unique to them, their practice areas and their interests. Since launching the new certification, the certification board has launched two additional microcredentials that are built upon the generalist certification. 

Tying This to Revenue

As seen in the examples above, responding to the voice of the customer research and introducing new products helped these organizations better respond to their stakeholders’ needs and have also provided new revenue streams. For many organizations, the flexibility to adopt alternative credential types has supported organizations’ educational strategy and revenue opportunities.

Naturally, these innovations must be supported by a clear and consistent strategy. However, offering a more diverse mix of credentialing products can help appeal to a broader audience, including less experienced or less educated professionals, changing careers and employers investing in upskilling. Such credentials can encourage continued engagement with the credentialing organization by allowing customers to stack multiple credentials or progress toward a higher-level certification. It will also enable organizations to respond more quickly to market trends and test market demand. Such credentials can support B2B sales and drive long-term customer relationships, creating growth opportunities.

Summary

The world is changing rapidly. These changes will significantly impact the workforce and the work of the future. Credentialing bodies must proactively monitor the external environment to ensure their products and programs will continue to meet industry needs. Incorporating the voice of the customer into external monitoring is a critical activity that can contribute to an organization’s ability to prepare for the future. As the examples in this article illustrate, listening to the customer's voice is critical in the innovation process. Customers understand what isn’t working for them and their pain points. Taking the time to listen to them can help identify opportunities to innovate and meet customers' needs sooner and more effectively.

References

1 - "A long-term timeline of technology, OWID" by Max Roser, Our World in Data is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

2 - “This timeline charts the fast pace of tech transformation across centuries”, World Economic Forum, February 27, 2023. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/02/this-timeline-charts-the-fast-pace-of-tech-transformation-across-centuries/  Accessed July 28, 2025.

3 - “A looming 'demographic cliff': Fewer college students and ultimately fewer graduates”, NPR, January 8, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/08/nx-s1-5246200/demographic-cliff-fewer-college-students-mean-fewer-graduates Accessed July 30, 2025.

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