The rise of the vendor academy: Are tech firms reshaping digital education?
A growing number of technology vendors are adding training academies to their offerings in response to the industry’s skills shortages, but should CIOs view vendor-trained talent as a strategic advantage or a dependency risk?
IT training is a lucrative market, with IDC estimating that the global market will grow to $26.6bn by 2029, up from $21.5bn in 2024.
This is driven by digital transformation, AI adoption, and persistent skills shortages, according to Gina Smith, research director for IDC’s IT Skills for Digital Business practice. Smith adds that 36-40 percent of CIOs globally cite finding skilled professionals as their top talent challenge. It’s understandable, then, that IDC reports 73 percent of businesses plan to increase their training spend this year.
With technology advancing at speed, savvy vendors have positioned themselves to not only provide the latest solutions, but also support businesses’ need for continuous upskilling. Today, major vendors such as AWS, Cisco, Google, IBM, HPE, and Microsoft train millions annually, with the Cisco Networking Academy alone serving more than seven million learners per year.
While first and foremost, vendors cite the digital skills shortage as the main catalyst for developing their own training academies, they don’t deny that there are strategic and commercial drivers, too.
“Vendors have told IDC that they also use academies to accelerate product adoption and ecosystem lock-in, build brand loyalty and influence standards, address regional regulatory or localization requirements, and differentiate via talent pipelines and customer enablement,” says Smith.
The highest uptake is in sectors with rapid digital transformation, such as finance, healthcare, government, and manufacturing, while geographically, North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific lead in adoption.
“The Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America are seeing rapid growth due to large-scale vendor/government partnerships,” adds Smith, “with AWS, Microsoft, and Google launching initiatives to train millions in AI and digital skills in MEA.”
Vendors vs universities
But what about higher education – are software providers stepping into the roles that were traditionally held by universities? The simple answer is no, according to Ryan Rose, director, skills and certifications product management at Learn with Cisco.
Vendor academies have been designed to sit alongside and complement university education rather than replace it, he says, but adds that the relationship between education and employment is changing quickly.
“In today’s environment, employers are increasingly prioritizing demonstrable skills over formal credentials alone,” he says.
“That doesn’t diminish the value of degrees, but does mean they’re no longer the only signal of workforce readiness. We see it as building a parallel pathway, one that’s more directly connected to industry needs, continuously updated as technology changes and accessible to learners who may not follow a traditional academic route.”
Smith highlights that some universities struggle to keep pace with rapid tech change and employer expectations for job-ready graduates, especially in cloud and AI, which is why many are now partnering with vendors to embed certification and hands-on labs into their curricula.
“Universities will continue to play a critical role in foundational education, but the reality is that learners now need more flexible, continuously updated pathways that reflect how quickly technology is changing and how work is being redefined in real-time,” notes Rose.
The certification calculation
So how should CIOs view vendor-certified talent? Is hiring people with these qualifications a strategic advantage, a pragmatic shortcut, or a dependency risk?
Smith believes CIOs view it as a pragmatic solution to immediate skill gaps and accelerating technology adoption, but notes that there are risks IT leaders must consider, as overreliance can create dependency, reduce flexibility, and increase switching costs.
“Vendor certifications are widely recognized and can boost employability, but deep specialization can create ecosystem dependency. Organizations are increasingly building workforces aligned to specific vendor stacks, especially in cloud and AI. This can lead to structural dependency, but also ensures up-to-date job-ready skills,” she points out.
The potential risks of doing this can include reduced multicloud flexibility, higher retraining costs, and talent mobility constraints, she adds, advising IT leaders to look towards cross-vendor certifications, third-party training, and focus on transferable skills, such as containerization and data integration in order to reduce vendor lock-in.
Skills without strings attached
Vendors are keen to highlight, however, that many design their certifications to be transferable. “While the certification comes from Cisco, what it teaches applies across a wide range of infrastructure environments and industry roles,” notes Rose.
In the case of FPT, the company launched its own training ecosystem to ensure that its in-house skillset met customer needs. Its foray into education began with its Software Academy’s specialized training program for developers, designed to bridge the gap between academic theory and real-world project delivery. Today, it runs its Vietnam-based FPT University, which provides technical and language training to over 150,000 students, and maintains partnerships with 180 organizations across 40 countries.
“Over time, we see opportunities for FPT to not only support our own workforce, but also the wider ecosystem,” notes Mark Scrivens, chief executive officer of FPT UK.
“The dependency concern is understandable, but it’s not how we design our programs. The ultimate focus is on transferable skills, logical thinking, and problem-solving. Instead of training people on a single technology stack, we design our curriculum based on project demand, business strategy, and market trends. Technology stacks will continue to change. As we service diverse sectors like retail, healthcare, automotive, and finance, our engineers’ ability to learn and adapt is what matters most.”
A hybrid future
IDC believes vendor academies will continue to grow and could even become the dominant model for technical upskilling, especially in fast-moving domains such as AI, cloud, and cybersecurity. However, traditional institutions will remain essential for foundational education, research, and broader skills development.
“Hybrid models are likely to become the norm,” says Smith.
“IDC’s bottom line is that CIOs should use a holistic, skills-first approach, leveraging both certifications and academic credentials as signals, but always validating with practical, role-aligned assessments and a focus on business value. This ensures hiring decisions are resilient to technology shifts and aligned with long-term organizational goals,” she concludes.
