“The clearinghouse would allow potential clients and customers to validate a technician’s qualifications, including training, certifications and specialties, so the client can be sure that they are getting what they are paying for,” said George Harris of OnForce, Inc.
It’s estimated that there are more than 30,000 certifications that need to be tracked by individual companies; in some cases as many as 100 certifications for a single technician. There is no current single source of compliance verification of technical expertise and certification. That is costly for the industry as a whole because individual companies must maintain and validate each technician independently.
Meeting attendees split into groups to discuss and debate some of the more pressing issues around such a clearinghouse, including:
- Will product manufacturers and vendors support such an initiative?
- Will individual technicians participate?
- Who would pay to build, manage and maintain the clearinghouse?
Legal issues, privacy considerations and other factors must also be taken into account, speakers said.
Also at Tuesday’s IT Services and Support Community meeting, attendees heard an update on a two-year initiative on warranty issues. A working group has examined past and current practices and future requirements for warranty service and repairs.
“It’s an issue that people don’t like to talk about [and] don’t like to deal with, but it affects all of us,” said John Mehrmann of Zylog Systems Ltd. “There are new threats and new opportunities.”
Mehrmann said there is a common interest on the part of original equipment manufacturers and service organizations.
“There is a general mutual interest to improve processes, speed, efficiency and accuracy,” he said. “The OEM community needs to contain and reduce costs caused by mistakes, misinterpretation and abuse. Service providers want good processes and good controls so if they are acting in good faith, they get good pay.”
A whitepaper on the issue is due to be published in roughly a month.
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