The News: One of the largest challenges facing the knowledge and service industries today is finding skilled workers. As enterprise applications continue to advance and evolve, worker skillsets are not always keeping pace. RiseUp with ServiceNow is a training and certification program designed by the digital workflow leader to provide people more access to the skills and credentials required to ensure success with the largest applications platforms in use.
ServiceNow Addressing Upskilling Needs with RiseUp with ServiceNow
Analyst Take: The pace of innovation within the enterprise application space is nothing if not astounding, with some vendors introducing new feature sets and functions every quarter, not to mention ad hoc updates to address workflow breaks or friction. However, these applications are evolving faster than workers can be taught or upskilled to take advantage of these features, further contributing to a shortage of skilled workers within the tech space.
However, workflow platform and application vendor ServiceNow announced RiseUp with ServiceNow in October 2022, its skills-based technology education offering designed to help individuals advance their skills and proficiency with ServiceNow’s platform. As of May 2023, RiseUp with ServiceNow has reached 400,000 individuals, 380,000 completed courses, and 41 new academic and placement partnerships. The program also focuses on expanding opportunities for tech talent with peer-to-peer networking opportunities, forums, and virtual events.
Addressing the Labor Shortages in Technology
ServiceNow’s RiseUp has a goal of upskilling one million different people on its platform by 2024 and is designed to infuse the ServiceNow ecosystem with a new pipeline of employee talent within 18 months. This goal goes beyond simply being aspirational, as ServiceNow has internal workforce needs that need to be addressed quickly. Traditional university programs, and even upskilling partnerships between software companies and higher education providers, generally have a longer program timeline of anywhere between four to six years before participants would be ready to apply those skills in the market.
Embracing an Industry-Focused Approach to Training
ServiceNow is looking to contribute to upskilling of workers beyond its own doors, which is provided through the ServiceNow Partner Placement Program. This program is designed to help customers and partners source, train, and access talent from diverse backgrounds, and focus on additional technology platforms.
Within the program, RiseUp with ServiceNow incorporates courses from Microsoft to provide individuals with a broader education on two of the largest platforms in use today. This approach also expands the skills ecosystem from which organizations can find and hire talent that can become proficient on both platforms.
Providing Pathways for Personal Development
Further, the training and certification program is also focused on people who may have not considered technology-related careers and provides them with the additional support they need to thrive in the application and technology-centric workspaces of the future. RiseUp with ServiceNow also focuses on the development of the non-technical holistic skills necessary to build successful careers, including critical thinking, interpersonal communication, and creativity.
In addition, participants will have the opportunity to earn a ServiceNow IT Leadership Professional Certificate on LinkedIn Learning. Professional Certificates are an assessment-based credential that can be added to a LinkedIn member’s profile based on curated learning. Subjects for this ServiceNow Professional Certificate on LinkedIn Learning include topics such as “succeeding as a first-time Tech manager” and “creating an IT strategy.” ServiceNow also notes that it offers dedicated options that lower barriers for marginalized groups and people with non-traditional backgrounds as well as for members of the military and their spouses.
Supporting ServiceNow’s Goals While Supporting the Industry
ServiceNow’s willingness to provide training and certification programs on not just its platforms, but on others, such as Microsoft, reflects an acknowledgment that upskilling the workers of today and tomorrow is an industry-wide challenge. More important, as the technology industry continues to expand geographically and technologically, the need to recruit and train workers from non-traditional backgrounds will be extremely important to ensuring that large platforms have a ready, willing, and able workforce for years to come.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
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ServiceNow Announces Strategic Collaboration Agreement with AWS
Author Information
Keith Kirkpatrick is VP & Research Director, Enterprise Software & Digital Workflows for The Futurum Group. Keith has over 25 years of experience in research, marketing, and consulting-based fields.
He has authored in-depth reports and market forecast studies covering artificial intelligence, biometrics, data analytics, robotics, high performance computing, and quantum computing, with a specific focus on the use of these technologies within large enterprise organizations and SMBs. He has also established strong working relationships with the international technology vendor community and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events.
In his career as a financial and technology journalist he has written for national and trade publications, including BusinessWeek, CNBC.com, Investment Dealers’ Digest, The Red Herring, The Communications of the ACM, and Mobile Computing & Communications, among others.
He is a member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP).
Keith holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Magazine Journalism and Sociology from Syracuse University.
