Wi-Fi has become a hallmark of the 21st century; the World Economic Forum estimates that there are 50 million individual Wi-Fi networks currently operating in the United States. A Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA) certification* qualifies a person to do the basic adjustments and maintenance tasks involved with running these networks in a commercial setting.

As an employer, you know you can't invest in every certification program that comes along; it makes sense to weigh the costs and benefits of a given program before signing your employees up for it. Here are just a few reasons why the CWNA course might be an excellent choice for a computer-based certification program for your company.

It Provides a Broad, Applicable Understanding of Wi-Fi Basics

The CWNA course teaches the key points about what Wi-Fi networks are made of, how they are installed and designed, what security measures they need and how to troubleshoot bugs in the network. Once someone has this base-level comprehension of how Wi-Fi networks function, they can use it to tackle many of the minor issues that regularly crop up in offices. Some of fixes needed might include:

• Fix problems with a weak signal that's interrupting your office's Internet connection
• Establish an authorized connection to new devices
• Set up a firewall

These are all things that a certified CWNA can probably figure out a solution to, nicely illustrating how handy it can be to have such a person in the office. Wi-Fi is a great tool, and the more your staff knows about it, the better they can use it to propel your business forward.

It's Vendor-Neutral

There are two main kinds of IT certifications: vendor-specific and vendor-neutral. Vendor-specific certifications are credentials that apply to only one particular company's networks and hardware - Cisco-branded certifications are a well-known example of this. They offer an incredible depth of knowledge and are often highly regarded for being so thorough, but are also so specialized in nature that they become obsolete outside of their intended contexts.

Vendor-neutral certifications like the CWNA designation, however, are not tied to any one company or brand. Rather, they are intended to provide general knowledge that will be relevant to learners using any of the wide array of product options on the market. This means that the skills your employees learn in a CWNA course will never be useless if you decide to change suppliers.

Your staff may never know quite as much about any one system, but you'll be thankful for the open-ended nature of this program if your company ever needs to change directions with its IT department. In that case, your existing CWNA-certified employees will be just as competent with the new systems as they were with the old ones.

It Can Serve As an Internal IT Funnel

Some companies hire externally for their IT needs, but others prefer to scout out talents for these positions from within their existing ranks. One good way to find promising prospective internal candidates for this move is to make entry-level certification courses available to your employees. The ones who take you up on the offer and excel in their classes are the ones you know you can put a little more investment into afterwards.

The CWNA certification is a good choice because it's intended to be basic and accessible to beginners, so as long as someone puts in the effort required to keep up, they should be able to pass the final exams with no problem. It also gives them a chance to try out some of the work they'll be doing in a low-risk setting where both of you can gauge how well they handle it. This way, you'll catch any mismatches early and save yourself a lot of time and expense.

It Unlocks Other Certification Pathways

The CWNA certification is very low-level, true, but all IT professionals have to start somewhere. In this case, getting this initial certification allows a person access to all of the other, more specialized offerings from the Certified Wireless Network Professional organization. These include the CWSP (security), CWDP (design), CWAP (analysis) and CWEP (expert) credentials, all of which cover their designated topic in significantly more detail than the coursework for this certification does. Students aren't permitted to sign up for them without first beginning with the basics, though.

All of these higher-level skills are immensely valuable in a modern IT environment and greatly extend the computer capabilities of your company. If your goal is to eventually have your employees master all of the intricacies of the IT industry, this is a small but critical step on your path to achieving it.

If you think your staff could benefit from CWNA certification in any of these ways, why not check out Infotec's CWNA Certification Course*? Contact us today to discuss your company's needs and how you can get a better grasp on the fundamentals of network technology. 

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For more information about Infotec or any of our programs click here: http://www.infotectraining.com/ or https://ops.infotecpro.com/course_schedule/course_schedule.cfm.