ACS (Australian Computer Society) is the professional association for Australia’s technology sector. With 40,000 members, ACS is dedicated to growing the nation’s digital skills and capacity.
ACS members benefit from professional training and skills certification, networking and events, liability insurance cover and access to technology and innovation hubs.
In addition, ACS has developed a Professional Partner Program (PPP) to enable Australian organisations to be more proactive in gaining the benefits of employees’ ACS membership.
Partner organisations pay for ACS membership for appropriate employees, at a discount on the individual rate. Each partner is assigned an ACS account manager who works closely with the partner to help them maximise their partnership.
PPP has more than 300 member organisations across government, business, industry, research and academia.
This brandpost will outline the ACS Professional Partner Program, summarise the benefits to employees and the specific advantages for partner organisations.
ACS membership benefits
ACS membership presents many benefits for IT professionals. In turn, this benefits the organisations that employ them. ACS members can gain training and certification in the skills they bring to their roles, and valuable networking and knowledge from over 600 events a year.
ACS is also a voice for Australia’s IT professionals. It engages with policy makers and the media on issues relevant to the technology sector. And provides resources for educators and industry to boost Australia’s digital capabilities and competitiveness.
Education
ACS offers a wide range of learning pathways, qualifications and certifications to Australia’s IT professionals. The aim is to create a pipeline of talent to ensure Australia has the 1.2 million high-skilled and diverse IT professionals Australia needs by 2027.
ACS’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program encourages members to maintain, improve and broaden their knowledge, expertise and competence – to advance their professional standing by completing CPD hours each year as part of their membership.
In addition, ACS’s workforce development team can design customised learning solutions tailored to an organisation’s strategy, environment, challenges, and desired outcomes.
ACS also accredits courses offered by other institutions after evaluating their capacity to produce graduates who have the knowledge and skills required of an IT professional. Forty-five Australian universities offer ACS accredited degrees designed to ensure students are tech-ready when they graduate.
Career development
The Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) is a skills development framework used to benchmark the competences of IT professionals worldwide. By meeting SFIA standards, technology workers can demonstrate their abilities to employers anywhere in the world.
ACS members can take advantage of advanced self-assessments against competencies in SFIA to create a precise skills profile, and identify potential career paths and the skills they need to help achieve their goals. ACS membership can also provide members with access to mentors who can help guide their careers and open-up career opportunities.
Certification
ACS members can apply for ACS professional certifications, which recognise transferable skills and competencies and, unlike vendor certifications, are technology agnostic. They are based on the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) and offer the following certifications:
• ACS Certified Professional
• ACS Certified Technologist
• ACS Certified Cyber Security Professional
• ACS Certified Cyber Security Technologist
• ACS Certified Safety Critical Systems Professional
Networking
ACS hosts over 600 events and attracts some 48,000 attendees each year, providing an opportunity for ACS members to come together, learn and network. Two hundred of these events are designed to help members upskill and stay relevant. ACS also supports several boards and special interest groups that help to educate and inform. Members also get opportunities to engage with state and federal politicians at political engagements held around the country.
In addition:
• ACS members gain access to a digital library with more than 44,000 digital assets, including exclusive training videos, recorded webinars and insights from technology leaders.
• The ACS Career Platform offers career advice, job seeking content, profiles of working with specific organisations and details of available opportunities.
• ACS limited liability insurance offers professional indemnity coverage for members that invoice less than $100,000pa for IT services.
• All ACS members can access and use ACS Technology Hub facilities in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
ACS Professional Partnership Program
By becoming an ACS Professional Partner your organisation can offer, and pay for, ACS membership for IT staff at a discount of 20 percent. Membership gives employees access to all membership benefits listed above. In addition, 15 percent of the total membership fee paid is available to individual members for use on professional development courses or other ACS initiatives. (This needs some explanation as to how it works: do employees get courses free until the pool is exhausted, or a discount? Is it automatic or at the discretion of the partner company?)
Partnerships are annual and your organisation will be assigned an ACS account manager who will work closely with your nominated representative, conducting regular meetings to help you make the most of their partnership agreement.
Partnership also brings other benefits. ACS offers a range of partnership development opportunities to help you keep up to date with industry trends. These provide opportunities to display your organisation and its IT talent. Also, the growth opportunities available to individual staff members through their ACS membership contribute to job satisfaction and help with retention.
Members of the ACS Partnership Program include all Australian State Governments, the Federal Government and leading companies such as Coca Cola and Woolworths.
About ACS
ACS champions the technologies, people and skills critical to powering Australia’s future growth, diversity and security.
ACS is Australia’s largest community of technology professionals from all sectors of industry, government and academia.
It is a platform for industry, government and academia to connect, collaborate and shape policies.
ACS takes an evidence-based approach to the development of standards and skills for all technologies, ensuring Australia stays secure and future-proof.
And delivers programs and pathways to develop a diverse, high-skilled pipeline of trusted technology professionals, to meet Australia’s technology needs now and in the future.
Next steps
Contact ACS today for more information on the benefits of the ACS Professional Partnership Program, and how tailoring the program to your specific requirements can benefit your organisation.
