When you see “Six Sigma Black Belt” on someone’s LinkedIn profile, you immediately think, “super serious engineer.” That credential connotes a level of expertise and rigor that few people have — thanks to the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, otherwise known as IISE.
IISE is a professional society with over 23,000 members worldwide. The association offers a wealth of programs for its members, but certifications like Six Sigma remain the most popular. Looking to support their learners and relieve their overburdened staff, IISE moved away from physical credentials and partnered with Accredible.
While other professional societies have decreased in membership, IISE has undergone expansive growth, leveraging Accredible credentials to promote the association and create loyal IISE members for life.
credential open rate
increase in credential share rate
increase in LinkedIn share rate
In 2019, IISE was issuing paper credentials. While these felt formal and personalized, staff quickly realized that they simply could not scale. Producing, mailing, and filing thousands of certificates in the association management system (AMS) took considerable time. One-off employer validation checks also ate up employee time, precluding them from completing other, more strategic tasks.
At the same time, learners were expressing their desire for a digital platform where they could use and share their credentials more easily. As James Swisher, Director of Continuing Education for IISE, puts it, “Our learners were telling us, ‘Hey, times have changed. It's great to be able to have a paper certificate, but I need something more than that.’”
And times were changing. Right before IISE started researching digital credential providers, the association was already undergoing a massive switch to remote training — just in time for the pandemic. “We went from being a 90%-plus live, in-person training organization to a 90%-plus remote training organization,” says James.
Transitioning to digital credentials would streamline IISE’s backend operations and create a better experience for IISE learners, allowing them to track and share their achievements in an increasingly digital world.
Accredible’s digital credentials were exactly what learners had asked for, and its platform streamlined IISE’s entire back-end process, giving employees the time and space to brainstorm new ways to engage and reward their members.
“We’ve had a great relationship with Accredible. Everything has been just very easy. Anytime I have a question, I get it answered quickly. If there's something new that I want to do, I get support to do that. We’re very pleased.”
Going digital eliminated the highly manual tasks associated with paper credentials — a huge benefit, considering IISE has issued over 13,000 credentials since implementing Accredible. Data is logged in Accredible from the moment someone earns their credential. Uploading to IISE’s AMS is a breeze — “so easy, a non-technical person like me can do it,” says James.
In the past, IISE couldn’t prioritize certification renewal reminders like they wanted to because of the manual lift. But now, Accredible’s renewal reminders give them an automated touchpoint with members, reminding them to recertify before their expiration date with a link to the course they need to complete.
On top of that, Accredible allows James and his team to design and update co-branded certifications on the fly, saving them considerable time whenever partner universities need to make changes.
“We have a small staff to serve our members. Not having to do time-consuming activities that don’t add a whole lot of value is a big win for us. Accredible has freed us up from a lot of headachy kind of work.”
IISE has an active presence on university campuses, with chapters at over 150 universities. The association also partners with executive, ongoing, and professional education programs to supplement coursework with certification opportunities.
IISE certifications demonstrate students’ competence in specific engineering concepts and commitment to continuing education — qualities significantly appealing to recruiters. Accredible’s native LinkedIn integration helps them catch hiring managers’ attention and stand out in a crowded job market.
“Our university students love Accredible. I see dozens and dozens of students announcing their new Green Belt certifications on LinkedIn every week,” James notes. “It's really amazing to see how proud folks are of their achievement and how it connects them with potential employers — particularly young people who are just starting their career.”
James also noted that many non-engineers take IISE courses, making their certifications more meaningful in a job search. “They love the idea of having a certificate from, say, USC and from the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers when they were a liberal arts major. It’s a dual credibility stamp.”
The numbers speak for themselves. In the past three years, Accredible’s ease of sharing increased IISE’s overall credential share rate by nearly 96%.
A not-so-secret benefit to offering digital credentials is that associations like IISE get an extra bump in visibility each time a learner shares their accomplishments on social media. And those extra bumps are frequent — IISE’s LinkedIn share rate has jumped by a whopping 123% — getting IISE’s brand in front of more potential members and earners.
“I think all of us at IISE underestimated the additional exposure Accredible’s credentials would give the Institute on social media,” James explains. “It helps other folks understand what kind of programs we offer and gets them thinking about a membership.”
But social media sharing isn’t the only revenue-driving Accredible feature. Using Accredible’s Recommendations feature, IISE advertises its courses on credential pages (its own and other issuers’ pages) and prominently at the top of CourseFinder, a credential directory and course search platform. In doing so, IISE can better market its courses to new and existing members, generating additional program enrollment and revenue.
Before Accredible, IISE could only measure traditional education metrics — things like what certifications learners were earning and certification exam scores. With Accredible, IISE has been able to expand its reporting to monitor the marketing aspects of digital credentials. Per James, “We've gotten much savvier with the tools in Accredible, tracking traditional metrics while also keeping a pulse on open rates and share rates.”
And their results are quite impressive. “Share rates are consistently above 80%, which we’re very proud of, and we’re working to get to 100% percent,” James says. He continues, “We can now prove that learners are not only opening our credentials, they’re sharing them at a very high rate. Those are two metrics we didn’t and couldn’t measure four years ago.”
“Most important to us is that our learners get a lot out of Accredible. As we’ve grown, that’s stayed true, and Accredible has helped us achieve that. I can’t say enough about their support.”
James Swisher, Director of Continuing Education, IISE
IISE’s years of success with Accredible have paved the way for more innovative uses of digital credentials — always with a focus on engaging and recognizing members. For example, they’re building a new, multi-tiered certification via Accredible’s Pathways, where learners can earn micro-credentials for each part of the program and a capstone credential for finishing the entire curriculum. They’re also experimenting with conference attendee and speaker badges.
They’ve even created badges for members who volunteer to write articles for the IISE magazine. “Credentials are another way to say thank you, and they’ve been incredibly popular with folks; they really appreciate the recognition,” James highlights.
Throughout it all, their learners continue to gain value from Accredible. “Most important to us is that our learners get a lot out of Accredible. As we’ve grown, that’s stayed true, and Accredible has helped us achieve that. I can’t say enough about their support.”
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Accredible is the world’s leading digital credential platform, enabling education and training leaders to increase learner engagement and drive program growth.
Accredible is the world’s leading digital credential platform, enabling education and training leaders to increase learner engagement and drive program growth.
