Boost your career and team productivity with Responsive Academy

“The more you learn, the more you earn.” — Warren Buffet

After a wild hiring spree during the COVID-19 pandemic (remember 2021’s Great Resignation?”), things have definitely cooled down. Today, businesses are tightening their belts in anticipation of a possible economic slowdown.

At the same time, Gartner predicts that B2B tech spending will rise significantly as companies invest in emerging technologies like AI. Yet, employers are struggling to find people with the human skills needed to leverage and maintain both new and existing technologies, creating a critical skills gap.

On the surface, these two seemingly contradictory trends don’t make much sense. But, as we dig deeper, we see that they are surprisingly connected by a single solution: certification.

Improve business outcomes with Responsive Academy

Used by almost 2,000 companies—including 20 percent of the Fortune 500—and hundreds of thousands of users, Responsive is by far the most popular Strategic Response Management (SRM) platform.

Today’s employers are increasingly focused on doing more with less. If Responsive is in your SaaS toolbox, you probably already see improved response processes and the benefits of a single source of truth for all of your organization’s most compelling, current, customer-facing information.

Whether you work in proposal/bid management, sales, information security or any other role that involves responding to complex questionnaires or customer requests, Responsive drives efficiency, significantly reduces the time it takes to respond, and ultimately accelerates revenue.

Responsive Academy is a one-stop learning portal to help teams and Responsive users maximize the platform’s potential and improve their Responsive skills. Certified Responsive users not only provide immense value to their organizations, but are critical business partners, adding crucial velocity to deal cycles and revenue engines.

How important is skill certification?

Advances such as artificial intelligence (AI) are automating many skills considered invaluable just a few years ago. Instead of machines replacing human workers, however, new opportunities are springing up everywhere for people who know how to work with the advanced technologies. But first, they need the skills.

In fact, a recent report found that skill-based hiring might soon replace resume-based hiring. Additionally, 86 percent of those seeking new job opportunities say showcasing their relevant skill sets would help them secure their “dream job.”

The World Economic Forum, a leading authority on global economic trends, recently warned employers that nurturing and expanding skill sets is no longer a luxury but a necessity to future-proof operations. In fact, they have gone so far as to dub the 2020s as “the decade of upskilling.”

What is Responsive certification?

Certification aims to bridge skills gaps through upskilling: a professional development process that involves learning a new skill or developing an existing one to further your impact at work.

There are more Responsive users than with any other SRM platform in the world. A brief search through LinkedIn shows 10s of thousands of Responsive mentions. Responsive certifications, available only to Responsive customers and users, are great for hiring and for team members to differentiate themselves.

Responsive certification is inexpensive. The curriculum is free and each exam costs $199. The exams include 40 questions on Project Management and 40 questions on Content Management.

Certification is a win-win situation for both employers and employees. For employers, Responsive expertise enhances efficiency, boosts adoption, drives ROI through increased win rates, and ensures a competitive edge. Plus, upskilling your existing workforce is the more cost-effective option: the cost of replacing an employee ranges from half to twice an employee’s salary, according to Gallup.

For employees, it’s a pathway to career growth, adding valuable skill sets and making them more indispensable to their organization. Not only that, but every day, we see more and more companies listing Responsive certifications as job requirements.

The response process has numerous stakeholders and strict deliverables. Keeping a response organized and on track can be a full-time job by itself, especially when it involves people from multiple time zones and work environments.

The project management capabilities in the Responsive Platform enable collaboration from anywhere in the world and automate tedious processes. More specifically, the AI-powered project management features include:

• Business intelligence — Leverage Responsive AI to make smarter, data-driven go/no-go decisions and gain insight into ROI
• Automated workflows — Ensure that each project and task is on track
• In-app @mentions — Collaborate with stakeholders and proposal contributors directly in the productivity apps (e.g., Slack) they’re working in every day
• Best-in-class integrations — Slack, Salesforce and Seismic are just a few of the integrations designed to drive communication and consistency throughout the customer journey

Benefits of the Responsive Content Library

A company knowledge base is one of its greatest assets, and by extension, so are knowledge workers. However, a recent survey found that nearly half of knowledge workers struggle to find the information they need to properly perform their jobs. Beyond that, more than 80 percent of workers believe that a company information search should be as easy and fruitful as a Google search.

Responsive’s Content Library is more than a knowledge base. It’s an AI-powered repository for everything needed for the response process and more. Even those not involved in response find value in a single source to find all the information they need throughout the day.

However, information changes quickly. It grows at a near-exponential rate and knowledge bases create a lot of ROT (redundant, obsolete or trivial content). Managing and curating content is vital to all business operations. Fluency in the Responsive Content Library helps solidify value to the organization, ensures that revenue teams have the resources they need to close deals, and provides the most accurate, up-to-date information leaders and investors need to prove compliance and viability.

In other words, content helps companies thrive.

Responsive AI-driven content management features include:

• Proactive alerts — Address duplicates on the spot
• ROT reduction — AI helps find ROT to simplify content audits and keep content clean and up-to-date
• LookUp — Access content on-demand from anywhere in the world

What are the Responsive Academy certification courses like?

We know you’re busy, but allotting some time to complete a certification will help you save time in the long run by surfacing critical efficiencies in your workflows.

Responsive Academy certification courses are designed to maximize your time. Preparation for the certification exams is organized into two study guides. Completing each guide takes less than a half working day, and you can break it up. Each certification course is about four hours long. The exams are very affordable and take 30 – 75 minutes, depending on Responsive experience. Expert Responsive users can often go straight to the exams.

Here’s what some G2 reviewers have to say:

“Having the Responsive Academy courses has allowed our team to grow and collaborate more effectively.” 

“The classes in Responsive Academy are SUPER helpful, and you can even earn certificates.”

“Responsive’s Help Center and Academy is so good!”