Session 318

Open Badges: How IBM launched a bold new initiative to attract, engage and progress talent

David Leaser, IBM

Las Vegas, NV | September 30 – October 2, 2015

Eight problems we all face in business

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Increase verified talent for our clients

Drive skills progression toward advocacy

Increase crowd sourcing of innovation

Increase product sales and trials

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Decrease support calls

Increase client confidence with demonstrated skills

Motivate employees to drive their own development

Map available skills and specific gaps

Open Badges: A new “nano credential” standard

Digital emblem which symbolizes skills and achievements

SHARE

Contains metadata with skills tags and accomplishments Easy to share in social

media: LinkedIn, Twitter, FB, blogs

Tethered to IBM to validate and verify achievement

Provides a progression path to advance commitment

Analytics provide insight into how a program is performing

Insights shows real-time labor market data – jobs, salaries, locations.

“Open Badges is a way to demonstrate tangible skills that have direct relevance to

careers today.”

~ Dean Garfield, CEO IT Industry Council

“Pearson’s open badge solution provides validated and easy to share

proof of qualifications and skills.”

President Bill Clinton Endorses Open Badges at Clinton Global Initiative

“Badges — not digital diplomas — seem to be the best and likeliest bet on accreditation’s future.”

~ Harvard Business Review

The world is moving quickly to adopt badges

How do Open Badges benefit earners?

Broadcast AchievementsSignals skills and achievements to peers, potential employers and others

Motivate ParticipationProvides recognition for achievement;encourages engagement and retention

Develop Personal BrandDisplays verified achievements across the web. Improves social connections with peers, employers and clients

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Evidence: LinkedIn profiles with credentials such as certifications and badges receive 6x the number of profile views.

How do Open Badges benefit you?

Generate Qualified LeadsAttracts new candidates to who seek recognition and opportunity

Enhance Our BrandThousands of brand marks flooding LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, blogs

DifferentiationYou will lead the industry with a cutting-edge nano credential program

Track and Nurture TalentQuickly identifies skills gaps and opportunities -- candidate or geo level

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How do Open Badges benefit consumers?

Verified NanoskillsProvides a trusted “seal of approval” for employers validating existing talent or potential hires

Candidate SelectionProvides an easy way to identify candidates to hire or promote

Improved Company PerformanceMotivates employees to drive their own development and improve the performance of the organization

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Social media: 2.8 million views per 10,000 badges

40,000 Views 2,700,000 Views 79,000 Views

A printed certificate might reach the 8 individuals who walk past an office and notice it on the wall

An important benefit: A consolidated skills registry

Name: Susan BallesterosLocation: Manila, PhilippinesSkills Tags: Bluemix, Security, Mobile, zSystems

Badge metadata and our analytics will provide a “nano view” of a person’s skills and help us determine next steps to progress toward our objectives.

Date Activity Location Outcome Progress To:

1/15/15 Workshop IIC Explorer Badge Hackathon

1/20/15 Hackathon Santa Cruz Advocate Badge Learnathon

2/20/15 GitHub Virtual Inventor Badge Certification

4/30/15 Certification Manila Certified Conference

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The ROI of Open Badges affects every area of your business

Reduced Employee turnoverRecognition reduces flight risk by half, from 51% to 25%. Replacement cost

per employee is ~$120K.

Reduced Customer Sat ProblemsBadges increase customer skills, saving

$300+ per service call.

Increased Customer TrialsBadges are motiving increased

QuickStart downloads – up 60% in Big Data University.

Deepened Commitment to IBMThe engagement level increases

from 28% to 76% with recognition like badges.

The IBM Success Story

Four IBM badges for resume worthy achievements

ExplorerKnowledge

Completes a quiz or assessment

• Academic knowledge• Formal training• Informal education• Mentoring

AdvocateSkills

Demonstrates a skill or has applied the skill

• Compete in Challenges• Competes in Hackathons• Answer questions• Author articles• Hosting a meeting• Present at an event• Teach on the subject• Create YouTube video• Create references and

testimonials

InventorCapabilities

Designs and develops new solutions

• Proves ability to build and implement novel solutions to exceptionally difficult and complex challenges - for IBM, clients or society

• Publishes an app on GitHub• Publishes an app in the

marketplace

CertifiedAuthority

Has completed a certification at IBM

• Provides an additional benefit which can automatically be shared to social media sites or included on their websites or e-mails.

Generating significant results for IBM

WHAT BADGE EARNERS ARE SAYING

"I find the badge program a great way of learning and hope more badge

options will be offered soon.”

"In a recent interview, this badge gave me a chance to elaborate about a

learning activity that helped improve my skills.“

"More people are viewing my LinkedIn profile after adding the IBM badge to

my list of accomplishments.“

"A truly worthwhile initiative that allows validation of my knowledge and

skills. Way to go IBM! Thanks."

IBM BADGE EARNER SURVEY – JULY 2015

IBM badge earners are also leveraging the power of Twitter and Facebook to promote their IBM emblem

81 countries within our first eight weeks

North

America

South

Ameri

ca

Europ

eAsia

Middle

East

Africa

Pacific

Caribb

ean

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

75% 69% 63%48%

33%16% 15% 9%

15

03 0930

07

09 03 02

Regional PenetrationPercentage of countries by region where IBM badges have been claimed

Number of Countries by region where IBM badges have been claimed

Dynamic labor market data in every IBM badge

Evidence: real value to employers and earners

Allow employer to verify your credentialsVerify a job applicant's credentials

Receive notifications about job opportunities

Display your credentials online

81%

77%

73%

76%

“A lot of people in my LinkedIn list did not know that I am CCE certified till I posted my badge.”

“The ability to show customers the badge eases their minds when thinking about allowing me (the engineer) to get close to their environment.”

“A potential employer was able to verify my credentials.”

“As an IT Consultant I have noticed that during job interviews for new customer assignments the interviewer has already checked the consistency of my resume with LinkedIn.”

“I was contacted for a job by someone who saw the badge activity.”

“While my "alphabet soup" has always been listed, changing that for graphic badges has increased attention, comments and understanding of my credentials. “

Top four responses to Pearson VUE’s surveys on where badges show value:

Getting Started: Checklist to begin badging

Identify your badgeable activities (who, what, where, when, why and how many)

Determine how you will assess completion, track and maintain attendees

Establish a landing page for the activity – badge needs to point to an external page

Incorporate the badge promotion into the activity and market like crazy

Issue badges and notify badge earners Survey results Repeat!

• Develop a solid communication plan.

• Badge issuer must own the relationship with the badge earner

• Build consent (privacy, info sharing) into the activity

• Provide strong benefits statements (marketing) into the intro letter to badge earner

• Add certification / skills paths into the metadata for all badges

• Retro badges are less successful; limit time period to 90 days

• Names of badges are important!

Use Cases: Badges will help drive the behavior you needSolidify the client

baseBuild a loyal

developer base Proliferate skills Track skills at the

nano levelIncrease license

salesReduce customer

serviceObjectives Build advocacy and

strengthen client relationship and commitment to IBM

Increase the number of developers using our offerings

Build a vibrant and large pool of skilled labor to support our products

Create a heat map of critical skills for achievements earned across the globe

Drive potential customers to act by downloading trial versions of our offerings

Motivate customers to develop skills to reduce support calls and critsits

Benefits to earners

Earners will be recognized as having increased eminence on IBM solutions.

Earners receive a nano credential they can use to increase job and opportunity prospects, build a personal brand in social media.

Earners receive a nano credential they can use to increase job and opportunity prospects, build a personal brand in social media.

Provides a progression path and skills journey as we target offerings based on our analysis of their skill level and need.

Easy connection between a completed badge for a "how to" course leads immediately to a free trial product download

Earners receive a nano credential they can use to increase job and opportunity prospects, build a personal brand in social media.

Benefits to our clients

Badges count for points in a program that rewards customers with conference seats, services or marketing activities.

Verified application development skills in employees and potential hires. Badges motivate internal employees to self-manage and progress their learning.

Verified skills in employees and potential hires. Badges motivate internal employees to self-manage and progress their learning.

Verified solution skills in employees and potential hires.

Employees come to the table with a fundamental understanding of the product and the benefits, the beginning of a POC.

Reduced cost, customer satisfaction and opportunity cost. Badges motivate internal employees to self-manage and progress their learning.

Benefits to your organization

Increased public advocacy, references, case studies, plus as a social media drip marketing campaign generated by badges

Expanded developer base eager to advance with IBM.

Skilled labor to support installations. Reduced risk of poor deployments.

Ability to locate and progress deep technical skills for key IBM solutions

Increased exposure to IBM solutions through downloads.

Reduced cost, customer satisfaction issues and costs.

The engagement level of employees who receive recognition is almost three times higher than the engagement level of those who do not.

~IBM Smarter Workforce Institute

Thank you!

David Leaserdavid.leaser@us.ibm.com www.ibm.biz/badging

This presentation is also on Slideshare: http://ibm.biz/devlearn2015