Hi Karen. As karinec has said, certification is a good thing that drives organisations to develop and commit to professional standards. There are many organisations offering certifications of various types, but the CIAC is an industry certification that provides the process and standards and the testing process. This makes it one of the better ones.
I tend to shy away from ones that you can only get if you do a specific company's training. In the CIAC program, there is the opportunity for you to build (or acquire) and use your own training and development, or use one of a number of providers offerings.
Another great aspect of the CIAC program is that it is regularly updated as a result of industry advisory input, which keeps it current, and offers certification at numerous levels. This makes it especially valuable in driving career development.
So not only do you get the competitive edge certification brings, but you also get guidance in career development, which drives employee satisfaction and retention, My experience as a senior Call Centre Manager is that certification also drives down Call Centre costs, while raising the quality of the cusomer experience.
Please feel free to contact me if you want to link or if I can provide you any other information.
Best wishes
James | 
