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MERIT

NEWS ARCHIVE
Professional Development Differentiators

I am sure you get inundated with professional development and technology learning opportunities, with price points—and quality—all over the map. There are some very large, and very small, companies who have a huge catalog of classes and spend a lot of money on advertising.


What separates Merit Professional Development from the rest of the pack? There are quite a few differentiators, starting with the customer service and focus on our Members that our community has come to expect from Merit. We work hard to make sure your professional development needs are met, and that the courses and workshops we offer live up to your expectations. And on the rare occasion they do not, we work to make it right.

Many of our courses are unique, like BGP Routing and IPv6 or Leadership and Executive Coaching. We are the only provider of those courses in Michigan. As part of these unique offerings, we also leverage our Merit expertise in various workshops and half-day seminars. We’ve done half-day offerings on the cybersecurity threat landscape, PCI compliance and change management—all with Merit staff who remain accessible to Merit Members for questions and mentoring.

We also feature discounted pricing—Member cost is usually around 25% less than the market rate you would find with other vendors. For example, we can run the Certified Cisco Network Administrator Accelerated class for less than $3,000 for Members. That is both of the courses needed to take the CCNA exam in one week for less than the cost of one of the CCNA courses at a commercial vendor.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, our courses are customizable and can be brought directly to you. Members have found it helpful when they have migrated to a new system or application to bring in a Merit training partner and get everyone in the shop trained at once. The mitigation of travel expenses alone can make this an extremely cost effective solution.

We have also developed long-term training strategies, particularly in the area of cybersecurity. These opportunities have combined introductory seminars with intensive classes and Michigan Cyber Range exercises to deliver 360 degrees of cybersecurity training in an organization.

When I am out and talking to Members, it sometimes seems like Professional Development is a mystery in the Merit services portfolio. We aren’t trying to be an enigma! I would encourage you to reach out to me or your Member Engagement Manager any time to get a deeper or broader understanding of Merit Professional Development. If you have any technology, leadership or cybersecurity knowledge gaps, we can be the bridge. Our house or yours.

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