As AI reshapes job roles and automation redefines workflows, organizations are underneath stress to constantly construct, validate, and apply new abilities at scale. Most expertise pipelines merely can’t sustain: practically half of IT leaders already report {that a} lack of AI abilities is slowing progress.
At Be taught with Cisco, it’s our purpose to make IT abilities accessible to everybody: from college students and entry-level professionals to consultants with years of expertise. So it’s extraordinarily gratifying to see that IDC MarketScape has positioned Cisco as a Chief within the 2025–2026 IDC MarketScape for IT Coaching Companies in North America and a Chief within the 2025 IDC MarketScape for IT Coaching Companies in Europe.
Thanks to everybody at Cisco and at our companions for making this recognition potential. As AI modifications the way in which we work, we’re extra dedicated than ever to offering entry to in-demand abilities to learners throughout the globe.
Studying as mission-critical infrastructure
“The arrival of AI and different rising applied sciences provides a brand new dimension of complexity to an ecosystem already burdened by widening IT abilities shortages,” in accordance with IDC MarketScape for North America IT Coaching Companies. The report continues: “IDC initiatives that by the tip of subsequent 12 months, abilities shortages might price the worldwide economic system as much as US$5.5 trillion in misplaced income, product delays, high quality points, and impaired competitiveness.” Workforce growth is not a nice-to-have. It’s foundational infrastructure for competitiveness in an AI-driven economic system.
At Cisco, we’ve all the time believed that know-how alone doesn’t drive transformation—folks do. That perception is mirrored in our end-to-end studying ecosystem, designed to assist people, groups, and enterprises construct abilities that matter immediately whereas getting ready for what’s subsequent.
Proper now, meaning getting ready groups to work with AI. The World Financial Discussion board predicts that by 2030, 39 % of employees’ core abilities will change. That applies to everybody, not simply folks in ICT and even ICT-adjacent roles. And naturally, the dominant driver of that shift in abilities is AI and technological change.
A generational problem
Our capability to satisfy this want for reskilling—each for people and for enterprises—may have implications for generations. At Be taught with Cisco, we’re addressing the problem head-on.
Cisco Networking Academy’s Introduction to Fashionable AI, now out there in 12 languages, is already one among our hottest programs. The NetAcad workforce can be releasing a complete suite of studying known as “Apply AI.” The primary module reveals use AI-driven thematic evaluation to higher perceive buyer suggestions. The following module clearly teaches anybody to make use of AI to jot down and replace a resume. Additional programs and your entire Apply AI curriculum can be introduced at Cisco Dwell Amsterdam.
We’re additionally seeing thrilling traction with our AI Enterprise Practitioner Studying Path, out there on Cisco U. This Studying Path helps professionals in any respect ranges, in all industries, construct foundational AI abilities and lead accountable adoption of AI by way of strategic use and a spread of enterprise purposes.
ICT employees can anticipate even larger modifications. In 2024, the primary report from the AI-Enabled Workforce Consortium discovered that 90 % of ICT-related roles will expertise excessive or reasonable ranges of transformation from AI. The second report, issued only a 12 months later, discovered that 78 % of ICT-related job roles have been already being remodeled.
We’re reworking our certifications portfolio simply as rapidly. We’re updating present coursework and certifications to include new, in-demand abilities, and we’re including new studying and certifications to show and validate AI-specific abilities. These embody:
- The Cisco AI Infrastructure Specialist, which lies throughout the CCNP Information Middle certification monitor. It permits learners to construct and validate abilities in deploying, migrating, and working AI options on Cisco information middle infrastructure, in addition to in monitoring and troubleshooting.
- The AI Technical Practitioner certification focuses on synthetic intelligence and machine studying workloads, serving to technical professionals turn out to be AI-ready and efficiently embed AI into their workflows.
- The CCDE-AI Infrastructure specialization permits skilled networking professionals to validate their capability to design, provision, and optimize networks and compute energy for immediately’s AI workloads. It encompasses data of AI and machine studying, in addition to concerns referring to networks, safety, {hardware}, and the setting.
We’ll proceed to make these abilities out there by way of our related, multiplatform ecosystem:
- Cisco Networking Academy
- Cisco U.
- Cisco Studying Community
- A globally acknowledged certification program
Collectively, these platforms help roughly 7 million learners annually and greater than 28 million learners worldwide since inception, spanning foundational digital literacy by way of expert-level mastery.
Personalised, AI-driven studying at world scale
As AI transforms how work will get accomplished, it’s additionally redefining how folks study.
By Cisco U., learners can determine ability gaps, obtain tailor-made content material, and monitor progress over time—shifting studying from reactive coaching to proactive abilities growth.
From GenAI-powered assessments and adaptive apply exams to dynamic content material updates, Cisco is embedding intelligence straight into the training expertise—whereas persevering with to pair know-how with skilled instruction, mentorship, and group help.
Studying by doing: Arms-on expertise that mirrors actuality
Cisco’s ecosystem is constructed round real-world purposes, getting ready learners with job-ready abilities. We’re emphasizing project-based studying—equivalent to that present in our Information Science Necessities with Python course, which was lately highlighted in a white paper launched on the World Financial Discussion board.
Throughout our portfolio, learners have interaction with digital labs, hardware-based distant labs, reasonable simulations, Seize the Flag challenges, and project-based experiences that mirror enterprise environments. They will construct, safe, automate, and troubleshoot networks utilizing the identical instruments and situations they’ll encounter on the job.
This experiential strategy extends to world and regional occasions equivalent to Cisco Dwell, hackathons, and expert-moderated examine teams — serving to learners construct not simply abilities, however confidence, credibility, and group.
Main the way forward for IT studying
In an period the place the power to constantly study is the final word aggressive benefit, we imagine IDC MarketScape’s recognition reinforces what we see day-after-day: abilities are the muse of innovation, resilience, and financial development.
At Cisco, we stay dedicated to empowering learners, companions, and clients throughout North America, Europe, and past with the data and hands-on expertise they should lead in an AI-powered world—immediately and into the long run.
As a result of when folks thrive, know-how transforms.
The IDC MarketScape for IT Coaching Companies analyzes IT coaching companies with portfolios which are applicable to organizations contemplating vital digital and AI transformation initiatives.
The inclusion standards embody:
- A breadth of choices
- Dimension and breadth of choices that may considerably contribute to transformation
- initiatives
- Important know-how experience that’s vital to transformation initiatives
IDC MarketScape: European IT Coaching Companies 2025 Vendor Evaluation, #EUR153005625, December 2025
IDC MarketScape: North America IT Coaching Companies 2025-2026 Vendor Evaluation, #US52991625, December 2025
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