Worldwide IT Certification Revenues Will Exceed $4 Billion In 2003.

The shortage of skilled IT employees is fueling growth in the IT certification market. According to a recently published report from IDC, worldwide revenues in this market are on track to exceed $4 billion by 2003. Currently, the market stands at almost $2.5 billion.

"The IT skills shortage is forcing companies to offer attractive packages to fill IT positions, and these offers are capturing the attention of people with little or no experience in IT professions," says Anne-Sophie Dankens, a research analyst with IDC's IT Education and Training Services program. "These candidates need to be trained or certified before they can land an IT job."

The skills shortage isn't the only factor driving growth in the IT certification market. According to IDC, the proliferation of emerging technologies, the increased need for recertification, the appearance of vendor-neutral programs, the competitive advantage, and other tangible benefits certification brings are also contributing to the market's growth.

IDC expects the test delivery side of the certification market to grow faster than the certification training portion and the Internet will play a key part in this growth. "The business of IT certification test delivery is mostly applying the Internet as a tool to facilitate its administration and management," Dankens said. "eCertification" remains limited to the IT assessment business and has not yet widely spread to the world of high-stake IT certification exams. However, IDC believes obstacles to "ecertification" will become less formidable as testing providers invest heavily in research to develop sophisticated test drivers and robust test delivery tools for the Internet.

IT certification for networking technologies is in high demand. IDC estimates certification related to networking currently accounts for 40-45 percent of certified professionals. Certifications for Internet/Web technologies and general IT skills are also in high demand.