What is a TOGAF Certification and Why Is It Important

The Great Resignation following the COVID-19 pandemic has left many people rethinking their careers and what kind of work they actually want to do for a living. Resignations from positions have obviously been common, leading to lots of staffing issues, but for those who have maintained their career prospects, this situation has provided a great opportunity for advancement.

For those in the IT field looking to get ahead, it's become increasingly popular to acquire a TOGAF certification to better establish one's ability to organize IT Infrastructure.

What Exactly Is A TOGAF Certification?

So, what is TOGAF certification?

TOGAF, short for The Open Group Architecture Framework, is a type of certification indicating that someone is competent in the area of enterprise architecture.

Enterprise architecture is a field of an organization that involves collating an organization's documents or files into specific categories that are relevant to an organization's functioning. Instead of organizing information in alphabetical order or in terms of date, information is displayed in major categories related to business functions, such as public outreach or payment processing.

Enterprise architecture isn't just important as a more functional form of organization, it's especially relevant for communicating with entities outside of an organization's immediate structure, such as other businesses, government agencies, or the general public.

TOGAF certifications are largely standardized, with the current version of TOGAF being TOGAF 9. Each certifying body is going to assess TOGAF competency differently, but they typically assess ability in data organization, IT system blueprinting, technical architecture, and business functions.

TOGAF certification usually follows a series of tests. People wishing to get certified can either engage in self-study or take a professionally designed course which will give them the background knowledge and ability necessary to pass TOGAF certification assessments.

It should also be noted that there are also several different kinds of certifications, each of which determines a different knowledge level of enterprise architecture. The TOGAF 9 Foundation is the most basic certification, with the TOGAF 9 certified indicating a much more comprehensive understanding of enterprise architecture. For those whose field of expertise involves business project management, the TOGAF Business Architecture Level 1 comes highly recommended due to its significant business function focus.

Why Is TOGAF Certification Important?

Businesses and other kinds of organizations are struggling to keep up with the technological development and increased interconnectivity that's occurring around the world. In order to stay competitive, it's become necessary for businesses to focus on IT functions, public outreach, and interorganizational collaboration, not as individual functions, but as an interconnected system.

As TOGAF largely concerns the organization of information relative to organization functions, having employees who have an in-depth understanding of enterprise architecture is a definite asset.

If you're an IT professional or are in a related field, then getting your hands on a TOGAF certification won't just be a good career move, it will also improve your ability to work effectively in your organization's structure, improving work performance substantially. You'll better understand the priorities of the higher ups and also be able to offer suggestions as to how to make communication and information transfer more efficient.

While it may be tempting to think that your current skillset is enough to carve out an exceptional career, employers are always looking for people that have a multifaceted understanding of organizational structure, which is something that's usually only found among management. Employees with a bird's eye view of how an entire organization operates are going to be perceived as much more valuable than those don't have the same perspective.

Where Can You Get A TOGAF Certification?

There are a multitude of organizations out there that offer TOGAF certification resources and testing formats. Enterprise architecture educators and consultants like Conexiam are an excellent resource for people looking to get educated on the subject and find resources that will help them succeed with passing certification exams.

Taking The Next Step

While it's not always necessary for someone to have a good understanding of enterprise architecture to succeed in their field of expertise, it can be very useful. Rarely, especially nowadays, do people have the luxury to focus on singular aspects of an organization's functioning; understanding how every individual part of an organization supports the others is necessary to determine how to proceed with work.

If you don't have a TOGAF certification yet, you should seriously consider one.