Merit | Blog

Bridging The Workforce Ecosystem: The Power of True Interoperability

Written by Laura Ward | Apr 3, 2024

We all know the frustration of running an outstanding learning program only to encounter challenges connecting talented individuals with available job opportunities. Or the urgency to meet numerous job openings but not being able to connect smoothly to training programs in your sector. All of these obstacles come with the territory for workforce partners when administering workforce development initiatives. At the root of all these issues are fragmented systems and data silos.

Fortunately, ecosystems encompassing education, workforce, and training programs can utilize technology to solve these issues and bring visibility, foresight, and accountability to their talent programs. Solutions like Merits for Workforce provide interoperability, connecting the dots that open the door for cross-agency collaboration to visualize the talent pipeline from end to end truly.

Interoperability for Reportable, Reliable, and Verifiable Insights

Merits for Workforce fills the gap in obtaining comprehensive data, providing a clear understanding of program effectiveness that is reportable, relatable, and verifiable. From agency to agency, leaders can gain insight into what’s working within these replicable programs, where talent is in their training, and how to prepare for current and future needs. For example, if a training program in Montana was trying to recruit electricians to fill a gap in the industry, they could use an interopable system to see how many individuals are training at the local community college and work seamlessly with community partners to fill those jobs and talent needs.

Exploring the Art of Possibility with Customizable Programs

The beauty of interoperable data is that it illuminates the possibility of customizable talent programs enhanced by innovation. State by state, strong community leaders everywhere can work side by side to administer successful programs where individuals earn recognized skills and connect to meaningful employment. With Merits for Workforce, leaders can look at tangible data reports, make informed, data-driven decisions on funding allocations, and decide what is scalable to meet local and state-wide talent needs.

Uniting Tools for a Skills-Based Workforce Ecosystem

With uniting tools such as Merits for Workforce, partners bypass the challenge of finding new solutions as this platform layers onto existing systems. Instead of starting from scratch, organizations can embrace solutions that plug into their existing solutions, making for a pain-free enhancement for their workforce development strategy.

As workforce ecosystems shift toward a skills-based economy, the need for tools that support the sharing and verifying of individuals’ skills across multiple platforms is inevitable.  The workforce community can shore up workforce pipelines with purpose-built solutions to engage true collaboration, such as Merits for Workforce. Interested in learning more?