WINNING in IDENTITY

Earlier this summer, I assembled a team of IDV industry experts and started PEAK IDV to help clients maximize their success and achieve peak performance in the complex identity verification ecosystem.

Over the past few months, I engaged the market as a free agent connecting with enterprise buyers, venture investors, and industry providers. The digital trust ecosystem is changing rapidly with the advent of new companies and new technologies. I learned that for someone new to the space, it is tough to establish baseline knowledge and maintain an edge when the target is constantly moving.

Despite an uncertain economic future, investment in the digital identity industry continues. Competition across providers is fierce and the demand for experienced and knowledgeable talent is escalating. Most industry providers and vendors hire functional experts (executives, sales, marketing, product, engineering) but they are increasingly bringing these new top talent hires from different domains. This is a welcome solution to the IDV talent shortage but creates a long enablement ramp period if the hiring firm is not equipped to educate its new hires.

Yet, in speaking with industry providers, I discovered that enablement and education is frequently an afterthought. Here are a few of the common enablement anti-pattern that I've encountered.

Enablement Anti-patterns

No Industry Training

Many companies fall into this pattern. They have grown rapidly, perhaps taken on venture money, and are focused on recruiting, onboarding, building, and selling but not educating and enabling their teams. The expectation might be that the new hire is an experienced professional equipped to self-educate but the demands of a fast-paced industry make it challenging to learn if there’s no structure.

Job Shadowing

If there is no established enablement program, new hires will just learn by doing. They will join calls or meetings or will watch previously recorded sessions (Gong.io/Chorus.ai). This pattern might include a mentorship program but if the mentor wasn’t properly trained then the mentee will pick up bad habits. Job shadowing also has a long ramp. There are only so many meetings one can join as an inactive participant before it becomes a distraction.

Go Read Our Stuff

Just about every company in IDV spends money on marketing. Marketing content is king and today's buyers expect thoughtful, value-adding materials. One common anti-pattern is to direct new hires to go download product marketing content or customer-facing decks in order to learn and self-enable. Reading all of these materials are a good way to understand how a company’s products are positioned but don’t necessarily help level up industry knowledge. Further, the information in marketing materials are designed to stimulate buying, not learning.

Watch These Hour Long Videos

Over the years, some companies have built up hours of recorded sessions from sales kickoffs, QBRs, product launches, and ad hoc training sessions. Generally there is no editing or polish to these recordings and they include a lot of banter or dialogue that isn’t relevant to learning. The videos are uploaded on intranet drives and are not easily digestible. New hires reported to me that this is the most boring way to learn. Even worse, a lot of the content in recorded videos is stale because the topics aren’t revisited and so content may no longer be relevant.

No Accountability

Executive leaders understand the importance of training, education, and enablement but unless there is a formal policy of adherence and completion, there is often no accountability. What doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get done and education is no exception. Accountability starts at the top but enablement must come from boots on the ground.

No Certification (or Re-Certification)

If a company creates a training program with some level of accountability there still might not be a mechanism to ensure comprehension or competency. This is where a certification process comes into play. Credentialing learning might seem like overkill but knowledge fades without using it so certifying and re-certifying over time are key to long term success.

It’s Next Quarter’s Goal (or Budget)

Finally, many companies fall into this anti-pattern. Training and enablement is a priority but not a “right now” priority. It becomes next quarter’s goal or objective or key result. Or the budget is canceled or deferred. Kicking the "enablement can" down the road relieves short-term pressure but causes long-term consequences...

Anti-pattern Consequences

Didn’t hit the lead goals? Didn’t make the revenue number? Not driving retention or renewals? Perhaps your team isn’t engaging your prospects, customers, and the market correctly.

An intimate understanding of digital identity problems and client goals enables better messaging and discovery leading to better outcomes for your go-to-market motion. There is a way to win more and you can win if you want.

EDUCATED TEAMS WIN MORE

Today, we’re officially launching PEAK IDV ACADEMY (academy.peakidv.com), an education and enablement offering from PEAK IDV designed for industry providers, investors, and enterprise buyers that understand knowledge is power. The more you know, the better you can solve tough problems and serve your clients.

In the past few years, online education has exploded. In 2015, LinkedIn purchased Lynda.com and rebranded it LinkedIn Learning. Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, and MasterClass serve millions of learners per year.

The best way to think of PEAK IDV ACADEMY is a master class in identity verification education.

PEAK IDV ACADEMY is for any leader tasked with improving the training, education, or enablement of their team members. This could include managers, directors, or VPs of SDRs, AEs, SEs, CSMs, AMs, or any employee in their organization needing to understand the industry like an insider.

Investors and enterprise buyers of identity verification technologies will also benefit from content carefully crafted for their business interests. On a rolling basis we’ll be releasing new, timely education to help drive evaluation decisions and to separate the IDV signal from the noise.

OFFERING OPTIONS

LIVE GROUP WORKSHOPS

Our flagship offering is a live MASTER CLASS IN IDV.

Training is more engaging with instructor-led, video-based or in-person group workshop sessions. Experiential learning improves education. In this offering level, there is 10+ hours of live presentation, group discussion, and role play. This approach is ideal for teams of 5 or more.

VIDEO LESSONS ON-DEMAND

For smaller teams, 5 or fewer, or rolling education needs, we are adapting the live workshop to full eCourse. The MASTER CLASS IN IDV ONLINE offering is self-paced, web-based with the same syllabus as the live workshop. 

Group discussions and role play are replaced by smaller, digestible chunks of asynchronous learning. To ensure comprehension, the course includes a certification process of written and multi-choice quizzes.

We are releasing AD HOC VIDEO LESSONS on a rolling basis that cover advanced optics in 30/60/90 minute lesson formats. New topics will be added monthly and driven by community demand.

Initial education will come from me, Chief Enablement Officer, but I'll be bringing in more experts with specialized knowledge. Domain thought leaders. Fraud fighters. Identity practitioners and pioneers. Are you a master of the identity craft? Become an instructor and share your knowledge.

CUSTOM TAILORED TRAINING

Perhaps your organization is ready to “go big” on training & enablement. You can spend months procuring a learning management system and building content or you can subscribe to our turn-key, no-code BESPOKE LEARNING PLATFORM offering. This is a fully managed learning experience with access to all standard eCourses and ad hoc lessons.

Quizzes, assignments, and certification & credentialing are built-in. Employee progression and engagement reporting from day one. Your organization will also have a hosted/branded site with your domain name and logo serving unlimited learnings and courses.

With CUSTOM TAILORED TRAINING we also create bespoke training content for your specific products, services, and internal processes. You retain usage rights to any bespoke training materials and your materials are kept strictly confidential.

FREE PREVIEW COURSE & EARLY ENROLLMENT

To kick off learning with PEAK IDV ACADEMY, enroll in a free preview course.

The course includes 10 video-based lessons to introduce to our learning format. Topics include:

• Identity Problem Space

• Layers of the Web

• Types of Identity Fraud

• Industries, Verticals, & Use Cases

At the end of the preview course, you’ll test your knowledge and learn more about our learning framework and enrollment options: academy.peakidv.com/courses/free

Most of all, let me know what you think. This is a community-driven effort based on the needs of the IDV network. Let me know how we can help you achieve peak performance.

When digital identity is done right, we all win!