Certification has always been a part of the quality movement. However, there have been two major hurdles for certification in the customer contact industry.

First, many people felt that the quantification of soft skills was impossible and customer interaction skills were so prone to variation and subjective in nature that objective assessment was a dream. It was hard to consistently assess if someone was friendly or professional. To overcome this hurdle, companies must translate these "soft" issues into quantifiable, observable behaviors.

All knowledge and skills can be certified - soft skills and technical skills, product and industry knowledge.