Not Another Accreditation Scheme

I don't have a problem with business improvement schemes such as Investors in People (IIP) or even ISO9000, except that they do tend to become vogue subjects and often the latest reason why you need to employ a consultant. But I do have an issue with the latest scheme invented by ScotlandIS (a body claiming to act as the industry body for IT in Scotland) and backed by Scottish Enterprise.

I attended an event recently that was intended as providing feedback on the Scottish IT benchmark survey for 2003 – that part was very good. But at the same meeting a representative of ScotlandIS launched into an almost completely unrelated topic of the web developer accreditation scheme, as though this was the solution to problem of gaining senior executive understanding and support of information and communications technologies. Many of the audience, led by me, were astonished at what we heard.

As it happens, I had come across some information on their plans beforehand and had done some further research. The presentation of the scheme did nothing to sway my view that the accreditation scheme (which costs £500 a year, repeated every year), was nowhere near to providing a solution to the real problem. As such, it merely provides a reason d'etre for some ScotlandIS administrators and more work for the inner circle of 'advisers'.

At the risk of alienating people within ScotlandIS and their backers at Scottish Enterprise I predict that this scheme will fail.