As AI reshapes job roles and automation redefines workflows, organizations are beneath strain to repeatedly construct, validate, and apply new expertise at scale. Most expertise pipelines merely can’t sustain: almost half of IT leaders already report {that a} lack of AI expertise is slowing progress.
At Study with Cisco, it’s our aim to make IT expertise 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 attainable. As AI modifications the best way we work, we’re extra dedicated than ever to offering entry to in-demand expertise 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 harassed by widening IT expertise shortages,” in line with IDC MarketScape for North America IT Coaching Companies. The report continues: “IDC tasks that by the top of subsequent 12 months, expertise shortages may value the worldwide financial 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 financial system.
At Cisco, we’ve all the time believed that know-how alone doesn’t drive transformation—individuals do. That perception is mirrored in our end-to-end studying ecosystem, designed to assist people, groups, and enterprises construct expertise that matter at this time whereas making ready for what’s subsequent.
Proper now, which means making ready groups to work with AI. The World Financial Discussion board predicts that by 2030, 39 p.c of staff’ core expertise will change. That applies to everybody, not simply individuals in ICT and even ICT-adjacent roles. And naturally, the dominant driver of that shift in expertise is AI and technological change.
A generational problem
Our capability to fulfill this want for reskilling—each for people and for enterprises—can have implications for generations. At Study with Cisco, we’re addressing the problem head-on.
Cisco Networking Academy’s Introduction to Trendy AI, now obtainable in 12 languages, is already one in all our hottest programs. The NetAcad crew can be releasing a complete suite of studying referred to as “Apply AI.” The primary module reveals methods to use AI-driven thematic evaluation to higher perceive buyer suggestions. The subsequent module clearly teaches anybody to make use of AI to write down and replace a resume. Additional programs and your complete Apply AI curriculum will likely be introduced at Cisco Reside Amsterdam.
We’re additionally seeing thrilling traction with our AI Enterprise Practitioner Studying Path, obtainable on Cisco U. This Studying Path helps professionals in any respect ranges, in all industries, construct foundational AI expertise and lead accountable adoption of AI by strategic use and a spread of enterprise functions.
ICT staff can anticipate even larger modifications. In 2024, the primary report from the AI-Enabled Workforce Consortium discovered that 90 p.c 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 p.c of ICT-related job roles have been already being reworked.
We’re reworking our certifications portfolio simply as rapidly. We’re updating present coursework and certifications to include new, in-demand expertise, and we’re including new studying and certifications to show and validate AI-specific expertise. These embrace:
The Cisco AI Infrastructure Specialist, which lies inside the CCNP Information Middle certification observe. It allows learners to construct and validate expertise in deploying, migrating, and working AI options on Cisco knowledge heart 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 develop into 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 at this time’s AI workloads. It encompasses data of AI and machine studying, in addition to concerns regarding networks, safety, {hardware}, and the surroundings.
We’ll proceed to make these expertise obtainable by our related, multiplatform ecosystem:
Cisco Networking Academy
Cisco U.
Cisco Studying Community
A globally acknowledged certification program
Collectively, these platforms assist roughly 7 million learners annually and greater than 28 million learners worldwide since inception, spanning foundational digital literacy by expert-level mastery.
Personalised, AI-driven studying at world scale
As AI transforms how work will get executed, it’s additionally redefining how individuals study.
By way of Cisco U., learners can establish talent gaps, obtain tailor-made content material, and observe progress over time—shifting studying from reactive coaching to proactive expertise 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 assist.
Studying by doing: Fingers-on expertise that mirrors actuality
Cisco’s ecosystem is constructed round real-world functions, making ready learners with job-ready expertise. We’re emphasizing project-based studying—similar to that present in our Information Science Necessities with Python course, which was just 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, life like simulations, Seize the Flag challenges, and project-based experiences that mirror enterprise environments. They’ll construct, safe, automate, and troubleshoot networks utilizing the identical instruments and situations they’ll encounter on the job.
This experiential method extends to world and regional occasions similar to Cisco Reside, hackathons, and expert-moderated examine teams — serving to learners construct not simply expertise, however confidence, credibility, and group.
Main the way forward for IT studying
In an period the place the flexibility to repeatedly study is the final word aggressive benefit, we consider IDC MarketScape’s recognition reinforces what we see each day: expertise are the muse of innovation, resilience, and financial development.
At Cisco, we stay dedicated to empowering learners, companions, and prospects throughout North America, Europe, and past with the data and hands-on expertise they should lead in an AI-powered world—at this time and into the longer term.
As a result of when individuals thrive, know-how transforms.
The IDC MarketScape for IT Coaching Companies analyzes IT coaching corporations with portfolios which might be applicable to organizations contemplating important digital and AI transformation initiatives.
The inclusion standards embrace:
A breadth of choices
Measurement 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 2025IDC MarketScape: North America IT Coaching Companies 2025-2026 Vendor Evaluation, #US52991625, December 2025
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