“A digital badge is a visual symbol that represents the development of a new skill that can be displayed, accessed, and verified online. Digital badges are becoming increasingly popular among professionals as a way to prove they have important skill sets, particularly among those working in technical fields.

“A digital badge is further proof someone has achieved a credential and maintained that credential,” Nader Qaimari, chief product officer at ISACA, told TechTarget.  

Digital badges come embedded with metadata that provide information beyond only skill sets, including date of completion and the awarding organization. They may also include whether the badge needs to be renewed and if that has been accomplished through additional training. 

Digital badges are becoming popular because of the benefits they provide for both workers and employers. For professionals, badges demonstrate proof of their skills and accomplishments, which they can display on their online professional profiles, in their email signatures, and on social media. 

“They allow people to more easily express that they’ve been certified to employers and to each other,” James Stanger, chief technology evangelist at CompTIA, an organization that awards digital badges for its certifications, told TechTarget.

Why Do Digital Badges Matter to Organizations and Employers?

A number of organizations now offer digital badge programs for their employees. IBM has developed a comprehensive digital badging program of ‘badge families’ associated with the attainment of knowledge and skills in analytics, cloud computing, mobile computing, enterprise design thinking and more. In 2020, the company said it awarded three million digital badges since 2015. Additionally, Cisco, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, and SAP have embraced the Mozilla Open Badges standard, a free software and open technical standard for any organization that wants to develop, issue and verify digital badges.

For employers who acknowledge digital badges, it improves operations by motivating workers to boost their knowledge and skills, and is a smart way to show the world that they employ skilled, qualified professionals. Digital badges help organizations build their brand and find new audiences across social media. They also allow HR departments to quickly spot qualified candidates online, reducing the amount of time it takes to recruit such candidates.”