Certiport APAC 2012 - A Learning Experience

Hello again...

A Hanuman welcome

I am penning down what is was supposed to do two months ago. Alas, what the heck...better late than never kind of thingy. The trip to Certiport APAC - Partners Meeting 2012 in Bangkok started with a half hearted effort. The reception from the CEO was lukewarm but later agreed that me (alone) need to be there, when i was pitching that Sales rep. should be there too. In the past partners meeting is where partners meet, get updated on latest info and product, recognized and awarded. APAC has been one of the biggest contributing region for Certiport business. APAC partners are important group. Me being there representing my company, but at a different level in terms of partnership with Certiport. We are there as Product Development partner first and reseller of Certiport product second. So the expectation of treatment from Certiport is a little bit different, we are more than mere making numbers as others do.

Certiport's Update

The partners meeting started with updates from Certiport's CEO and the rest of the management team. Followed by partners by country. Everyone updated on success stories, new deals and future plans. We also talked about expectations, support and ideas how to make things better. My presentation on Prestariang's IC CITIZEN Certification was on the second day in the afternoon. Ray miss big part of it as he joined my session almost to the end. I was urging partners to try out IC CITIZEN...most are quite sceptical...but i think its their lost opportunity. There were also some new on-boarding partners from Korea and Indonesia.

4th GDLC - APAC

Being appointed to the Global Digital Literacy Council (GDLC) is an eye opener. The Global Digital Literacy Council (www.gdlcouncil.org) serves as the preeminent advisory body and as an authoritative voice on issues driving the development and implementation of global digital literacy standards and systems. The GDLC is a leadership and advocacy organization. Council members convene and collaborate online at a community site to review and ratify digital literacy standards, define best practices and develop programs and position papers on global digital literacy.  

The Wat from Cho Phraya

Membership in the GDLC is by invitation only. The Council's community site is hosted by the ICT Literacy Forum (www.ictliteracy.info), and the Council is sponsored by Certiport, an advocate of global digital literacy and provider of the Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC3) program. Its a recognition to my work in development Digital Citizenship certification and their need to have certain ethical component included in their IC3 content.



Seriously, the biggest learning experience comes from a personal talk with our partner from Down Under...He really opens up a new twist to my insight of other partners reluctancies in adopting IC CITIZEN...its marketing....While we are expecting Certiport to handhold us, its us that it is expected of by other partners. It has become my mission to just that ...prepare all the marketing kits, and get Certiport to "impose".

Recent developement in MEA market wrt to IC CITIZEN is very encouraging....we had our first 300 orders from Kuwait....with more coming soon from Turkey and the rest.
May the force be with us!


hamid