Certification Platform Overhaul Strategy and Pilot
Designing a Certification Platform Overhaul to Cut Onboarding Time by 70% and Enable Year-Round Operational Stability
Client Overview
A global professional development and leadership training organization delivering industry-recognized certifications. The certification platform was running on a 20-year-old manual process, causing long onboarding times, unpredictable workloads, and a heavy reliance on a small group of long-tenured staff. Previous modernization attempts had stalled due to cultural resistance and lack of executive commitment.
The program was global and virtual, with participants across multiple time zones, adding complexity to scheduling and delivery.
The Challenge
Before this initiative:
The onboarding process took an average of six weeks, creating lag times between program levels for 100% of participants.
A “build on demand” delivery model meant certifications were created reactively, making forecasting and resource planning nearly impossible.
All scheduling was manual, with back-and-forth emails and surveys before participants were committed to a group. This led to reactive workload spikes and inconsistent customer experiences.
Long-tenured staff, while deeply experienced, were hesitant to embrace automation for fear of losing control—or their roles.
Modernization attempts had failed due to unclear vision, staff resistance, and lack of trust in technology.
The result was operational strain, high cost-to-serve, and declining enrollment.
The organization needed a solution that:
• Automated and streamlined onboarding without sacrificing quality.
• Balanced workloads across the year for operational predictability.
• Created a sustainable supply-demand model for certification programs.
• Won the support of experienced staff and encouraged adoption.
My Role & Approach
I led the strategic redesign and change management plan for the certification platform overhaul. While I did not execute the full rollout due to maternity leave, I delivered a complete roadmap, piloted the new process, and built the stakeholder engagement strategy to ensure smooth adoption.
My approach combined process innovation with human-centered change management, grounded in my 80/20 principle: A process should serve 80% of use cases through automation and self-service, leaving 20% for human intervention where it adds the most value.
Actions Taken
Journey Mapping & Process Redesign
Mapped the end-to-end certification journey to pinpoint bottlenecks.
Identified onboarding as the most significant inefficiency.
Designed a predictable, pre-scheduled supply–demand model to replace reactive builds.
Automation & Self-Service Framework
Created self-service onboarding flows allowing first-come, first-served enrollment.
Reduced manual scheduling touchpoints from weeks of back-and-forth to one week of open enrollment.
Workflow Optimization & Forecasting
Standardized and documented core workflows.
Built forecasting models to align staffing with predictable demand cycles.
Change Management & Stakeholder Engagement
Ran co-design sessions with resistant, long-tenured staff to include their expertise.
Provided clear adoption plans, training outlines, and feedback loops.
Reframed automation as a way to free staff for high-value customer support.
Piloted the model, achieving 50–60% self-service adoption despite early tech limitations. The Goal was 80%. In removing the tech limitations, the self-service model would have achieved 80% of goal.
Projected Results
70% reduction in customer onboarding time.
Improved forecasting accuracy and ability to manage workload fluctuations.
Consistent year-round operational support and revenue predictability.
Faster customer transitions between program levels.
Increased adoption likelihood due to collaborative design process.
Key Takeaway
Major system overhauls succeed when they combine process innovation with human-centered change management. Automation should serve your people, not replace them—and the right balance builds efficiency, scalability, and staff engagement.
Impact Mix:
35% Process Optimization
30% Digital Transformation
20% Cultural/Organizational Transformation
15% Customer Experience