IA Replaces PRC with New Certification

US market research trade body The Insights Association has announced a new certification for insight professionals, revising and expanding the previous PRC designation

The IPC (Insights Professional Certification) replaces the old PRC (Professional Researcher Certification) which has been awarded to more than 1,600 professionals. The Association says the change comes partly in response to requests from individuals for a mark recognizing the outcome of the research process rather than the process itself. All PRC holders who meet a set of renewal requirements will be given the new designation with immediate effect.

Three levels are available in the new program: IPC Laureate is an honorary designation available by invitation from the IA Board of Directors; IPC Master requires a decade of industry experience and 'proof of broad expertise'; while IPC Principal requires the same but with three years of industry experience.

There are also five new specialty certifications recognizing professionalism in subsets of the insights process, along with the requirements for IPC Principal & IPC Master: these are IPC Analytics, IPC Practitioner, IPC Qualitative, IPC Quantitative and IPC Specialist. Different specialities are catered for by courses at one or more of The Burke Institute, Research Rockstar, RIVA Training Institute, Cambiar and the University of Georgia.

The Association's Chief Executive Melanie Courtright comments: 'Technology has transformed the insights industry and broadened its impact and complexity, requiring the need for multiple pathways towards certification at different levels. We've worked closely with industry education providers to offer the broadest support yet for certification. Employers of insights and analytics professionals can now look to IPC and its specialty certifications to identify the highest achievers in the industry while incentivizing and securing individual productivity and efficiency'.

Web site: www.insightsassociation.org/IPC .