Best Business Certifications of 2023

Business professionals often change positions to gain a better salary, more desirable benefits and new opportunities and attaining business certifications is a great step to take toward that change.

Defining a “business certification” can be difficult. To narrow the field, we reviewed general business and management credentials, customer resource management (CRM), supply chain, sales and purchasing certifications. Most of the certifications we selected are vendor-agnostic — not tied to a specific system or application — and we researched several credentials from SAP, SAS and similar companies that specialize in business applications.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) has been around since 1969, helping business workers develop careers in project management, mainly through professional development and certifications.

The CAPM is ideal for up-and-coming project managers. You need to show proof of a high school diploma, GED or global equivalent. The single exam has 150 questions, costs $225 for PMI members or $300 for nonmembers and is available through Pearson VUE. By the time you take the exam, you need to have attained 23 hours of project management education. The certification is valid for five years, and you must retake the exam to maintain the credential.

PMI has other certifications aimed at the business community, such as the Project Management-related credentials: Professional (PMP), PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA), Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP), Program Management Professional (PgMP) and PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP).

If you’re interested in analyzing business needs and coming up with solutions, take a look at the CBAP by the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA). The CBAP is an advanced certification aimed at managers and leaders with more than five years of business analysis experience. More precisely, you need at least 7,500 hours of business analysis experience over the last decade and 900 of those hours must directly relate to four of the six BABOK Guide knowledge areas. On top of that, you need at least 35 hours of professional development credits (earned over the last four years), plus two references.

The CBAP exam has 120 multiple-choice questions, based on scenarios and case studies and is available through PSI. The exam costs $350 for IIBA members or $505 for nonmembers and a $145 application fee is required. To maintain the CBAP, credential holders must earn at least 60 continuing development units within three years of achieving certification.

The IIBA offers related credentials, such as the Entry Certificate in Business Analysis (ECBA), Certificate of Capability in Business Analysis (CCBA), Agile Analysis Certification (IIBA-AAC) and Certification in Business Data Analytics (IIBA-CBDA).

>> Learn More:  5 Best Human Resources and Talent Acquisition Certifications

APICS is all about supply chain management. As part of its goal to develop qualified operators, supervisors and leaders, it offers the Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) and a few other certifications. The CSCP covers supply chain concepts and technology, plus strategies for end-to-end operations, from supplier to company to consumer.

To earn the CSCP, you need a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, at least one other approved certification and at least three years of related business experience. You also need to pass an exam that costs $1,365 to $1,900, depending on your APICS membership status.

The PMP from PMI is among the most recognized and sought-after certifications for both business and IT. The requirements are stiff. Option one requires a high school diploma, associate degree or global equivalent; 60 months experience leading projects; and 35 hours of project management education. Option two is a four-year degree, 36 months leading projects and 35 hours of project management education.

You must pass a 180-question exam to earn the PMP, which is available through Pearson VUE. The exam costs $405 for PMI members and $575 for nonmembers. You maintain the PMP certification by earning 60 professional development units every three years. 

Are you SAP savvy? SAP, a European multinational software program, stands for “systems, applications and products.” The software is used by companies around the world to manage business operations and customer relationships across several lines of business, including human resources, marketing, sales, manufacturing and supply chain. [Read our guide to marketing certifications.]

The SAP Certified Application Associate – CRM recognizes a consultant’s skills in understanding and using SAP CRM software, including how it integrates with other SAP solutions like NetWeaver. SAP recommends that candidates have a combination of experience and training before sitting for the certification exam; training courses are available if needed. The exam has 80 questions and costs between $208 and $519, depending on how many attempts you want. You can take the exam through the SAP Certification Hub.

If you’ve ever worked with or considered using a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, you’ve likely heard of Salesforce. From help desk and lead management to sales and customer service, Salesforce is an all-in-one CRM platform that scales with a business’ needs as it grows. The platform has become so popular since its launch in 1999 that it’s considered an industry leader and one of the best CRM solutions available. 

If you’re looking to leverage the platform at an administrative level, Salesforce offers a certification program to increase your knowledge of the platform. The program requires you to take several classes and workshops before completing a proctored credential exam. The classes and exam typically cost a few thousand dollars.

Salesforce suggests that anyone seeking this certification should already have a decent handle on the platform, since the certification seeks to build upon their understanding of existing features and functions. Once you complete this program, the company also offers the Advanced Administrator certification to further your knowledge of the platform.

HubSpot is a CRM platform that helps businesses handle their marketing, sales and help desk needs. While the platform covers various specialties, the HubSpot Inbound Marketing certification teaches how to use content creation, social media and other inbound marketing methods to your advantage. 

This is a free certification course consisting of seven lessons, complete with 24 videos and seven quizzes, which takes almost five hours to complete.  

Oracle is a leading cloud database software company that helps apply the nebulous digital concept to numerous business functions. More than 2.2 million people have earned their OCP credentials and our initial research found more than 1,000 job openings for the designation.

With numerous certification paths spanning the platform’s cloud-based and on-premises software and hardware solutions, Oracle offers free learning courses in a wide range of specialties. Once you’re ready for an exam, you must purchase a voucher at prices ranging from $95 to $245. These vouchers are good for six months, giving you enough time to hone your skills with the Oracle platform before committing to a test.

The American Purchasing Society is the membership organization behind the Certified Purchasing Professional (CPP), Certified Professional Purchasing Manager (CPPM), Certified Green Purchasing Professional (CGPP), Certified Professional in Distribution and Warehousing (CPDW) and Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant (CPPC) programs.

If your career involves the creation, use, retrieval and disposal of business records, check out the Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM), Certified Records Analyst (CRA) and Certified Records Manager (CRM) programs.

On the global front, the Institute of Management Consultants offers the Certified Management Consultant (CMC) certification and NASBITE’s Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP) focuses on global business management and marketing, supply chain management and trade finance. [Check out these accounting and finance certifications.]

Finally, the Business Relationship Management Institute has two certifications: the Business Relationship Management Professional (BRMP) and Certified Business Relationship Manager (CBRM).

Kim Lindros and Andrew Martins contributed to this article. Some source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.

Commvault announces Metallic: Salesforce Backup, Recovery & Sandbox Seeding – Unlimited Storage on Salesforce AppExchange

Metallic: Salesforce Backup, Recovery & Sandbox Seeding – Unlimited Storage is currently available on AppExchange.

Commvault (NASDAQ: CVLT) today announced it has launched Metallic: Salesforce Backup, Recovery & Sandbox Seeding – Unlimited Storage on Salesforce AppExchange, providing customers with dedicated protection for their Salesforce cloud data, expanding on native capabilities to offer extended retention, data isolation, sandbox masking and seeding, rapid recovery tools and more. Metallic: Salesforce Backup, Recovery & Sandbox Seeding – Unlimited Storage offers broad-ranging coverage across Salesforce Sales Cloud, Financial Services Cloud, Service Cloud and Health Cloud to help safeguard data from deletion, corruption and ransomware attacks.

Metallic: Salesforce Backup, Recovery & Sandbox Seeding – Unlimited Storage is currently available on AppExchange at https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N4V00000HDcS6UAL&tab=e

With a multi-layered security approach, Metallic: Salesforce Backup, Recovery & Sandbox Seeding – Unlimited Storage provides enterprise-grade protection, including robust security standards and built-in zero-trust access controls for production and sandbox environments. In addition, it features ease of management with a single pane of glass approach, enabling businesses to comprehensively protect their Salesforce data alongside their other critical workloads.

“Availability on AppExchange leverages Salesforce’s central marketplace to create a fast and direct method for Salesforce developers and admins to access solutions that secure, protect and defend their environments in the face of cyber threats,” said Param Kumarasamy, Vice-President of Product Management, Commvault. “Our solution provides the critical tools that protect these environments, as well as a wide breadth of workloads, helping customers reduce downtime and rapidly recover from attack while leveraging advanced, hardened and proactive security controls.”

“Salesforce plays a critical role in our day-to-day operations and the potential of losing that data was too high a risk for us. We needed a solution that went beyond the standard data management package to take us to the next level of protection,” said Jason Kehl, Senior Vice-President of Engineering & Data Science, Vectra. “This app was the answer. With a single platform design that makes it seamless to manage not only our Salesforce data, but all workloads across our infrastructure, as well as the highest level of security offered by any cloud-based data management solution, we can rest assured that our data is in good hands. The addition of Metallic on AppExchange means that Salesforce has thoroughly tested and approved the solution, providing another layer of confidence.”

“Metallic: Salesforce Backup, Recovery & Sandbox Seeding – Unlimited Storage is a welcome addition to AppExchange, as it accelerates business transformation for customers by delivering hardened security, robust coverage and comprehensive control, all through a single, simplistic platform in a data protection as a service environment,” said David Lee, Vice-President of Product Management, AppExchange. “AppExchange is constantly evolving to connect customers with the right apps and experts for their business needs.”

Metallic: Salesforce Backup, Recovery & Sandbox Seeding – Unlimited Storage enables customers to learn more about this solution, watch demo videos, download product-specific resources, read reviews, register for a free 30-day trial and more. Users can also request additional information on Metallic solutions.

The 9 Best CBD Capsules of 2023

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We chose the best CBD capsules based on safety, quality, and transparency. Capsules from Social CBD, CBDFx, and NuLeaf Naturals are among the most highly rated picks; read on for a side-by-side comparison of options.

Healthline has sole editorial control over this article. Potential uses for the products listed here are not health claims made by the manufacturers. The information in this article is intended to be general in nature. It’s not intended to be a substitute for medical advice from a healthcare professional. Healthline encourages you to make any treatment decisions with your healthcare professional.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a hemp-derived compound that shows promise for relieving pain, inflammation, and anxiety. Compared with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD won’t get you “high.”

CBD oil is one of the most common types of CBD products, but it isn’t the only one. You can also take CBD in a pill or capsule. Pills and capsules are easy to use and can provide more consistent dosing than oils, as each dose is premeasured.

However, unlike CBD oils, CBD capsules and pills are subject to additional breakdown in your digestive tract via the first pass effect, which may change the potency.

Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t guarantee the safety, effectiveness, or quality of over-the-counter (OTC) CBD products. However, in order to protect public health, the FDA can take action against CBD companies that make unfounded health claims.

Since the FDA doesn’t regulate CBD products in the same way they regulate drugs or dietary supplements, companies sometimes mislabel or misrepresent their products. That means it’s especially important to do your own research and find a quality product.

We’re here to help with our top nine picks of some of the best CBD pills and capsules on the market today. We’ll also go over how to choose a product, as well as cover safety and side effect information.

Where available, we’ve included special discount codes for our readers.

We chose these products based on criteria we think are good indicators of safety, quality, and transparency. Each product in this article:

As a part of our selection process, we also considered:

Additionally, most of the products on this list contain full-spectrum CBD. Full-spectrum CBD, also known as whole-plant extract, has some advantages over isolate — namely, the entourage effect, a theory that states cannabinoids work better together than they do alone.

*Price is accurate as of the date of publication.

Social CBD Gel Capsules contain pure CBD isolate from U.S.-grown hemp.

They come in four formulas that are each sold separately. We only recommend the Balance formula since it does not contain other added vitamins and minerals. More research is needed on the effects of combining CBD with other vitamins, minerals, and essential oils.

Social CBD Gel Capsules have 0.0% THC. Each capsule is dairy-, gluten-, and cruelty-free. They’re produced in a factory that does not handle nuts, wheat, shellfish, eggs, or fish. Added ingredients may include coconut oil and gelatin.

Subscribers save 30% off full price and can request delivery every month or every other month. Capsules come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

*Price is accurate as of the date of publication.

These gel capsules from CBDfx use MCT oil as a carrier oil, which is often touted as a beneficial supplement for promoting weight loss and clearing bacterial growth. They’re mostly flavorless, and reviewers say they’re easy to swallow. Note that these capsules do contain gelatin, so they’re not vegan.

With two size options, you can choose between 750 mg or 1,500 mg of full-spectrum CBD per bottle. However, both options contain 25 mg CBD per capsule — the larger potency’s dosage requires two capsules for a total of 50 mg CBD per serving.

*Price is accurate as of the date of publication.

NuLeaf Naturals full-spectrum capsules are available in three container sizes: 20, 60, or 120 capsules per bottle. Regardless of the option you choose, each capsule contains a low dose of 15 mg, which is good for those new to CBD.

Each capsule contains organic virgin hempseed oil, purified water, vegetable glycerin, and cassava root extract.

Customers say they like the convenience of the capsules. Some also note that the flavor is fairly earthy.

*Price is accurate as of the date of publication.

Lazarus Naturals Full Spectrum CBD Softgels combine full-spectrum CBD with organic flaxseed and coconut oil, plus terpenes, like d-limonene. Reviewers note that they’re on the smaller side, which makes them easier to swallow.

The company offers an assistance program for veterans, people with low incomes, and people with disabilities.

*Price is accurate as of the date of publication.

Absolute Nature‘s full-spectrum CBD is available in a high potency softgel format for easy dosing. Each softgel contains about 30 mg of CBD that’s extracted from hemp grown in Colorado. Absolute Nature CBD also only uses non-GMO hemp to make their products.

While there aren’t very many reviews, the majority of customers have only good things to say about the softgels.

*Price is accurate as of the date of publication.

These concentrated CBD capsules from Bluebird Botanicals combine full-spectrum hemp extract with organic hempseed oil.

Similar to Joy Organics, Bluebird Botanicals has dated test results available for every batch of each product sold. The company is certified by the U.S. Hemp Authority and certified compliant with the FDA’s Good Manufacturing Practices.

This is the one product on our list that isn’t entirely made from U.S.-grown hemp. Though Bluebird Botanicals uses U.S.-grown hemp in many products, the brand uses Canadian hemp in the Classic and Signature products.

*Price is accurate as of the date of publication.

If you’re vegetarian or vegan, these capsules by Sunsoil may be a good choice. They’re made without the traditional animal-derived gelatin. However, they are on the large side, so they may be hard to swallow.

Reviews are mostly positive, with many noting that they like that the pills don’t have a smell or taste.

*Price is accurate as of the date of publication.

These isolate CBD capsules from Medterra don’t have a noticeable flavor and are easy to dose. Capsules are available in 25 or 50-mg strengths and are made with organic MCT coconut oil and THC-free CBD isolate, making them an option for people who prefer to avoid THC.

Reviews for these capsules are incredibly positive, with many people noting how convenient it is to take them.

*Price is accurate as of the date of publication.

Charlotte’s Web is a reputable brand that uses U.S.-grown, certified organic hemp in their CBD products. Their liquid-filled capsules are made with only full-spectrum CBD oil and extra virgin olive oil (as a carrier).

One pro of this pick is that you can choose between a 30-, 60-, or 90-count size without changing the CBD potency per capsule (25 mg). These larger bottles can get pretty expensive, but this formula is also available in a 15 mg potency option, which is not only a lower dosage but a lower-priced option as well.

Navigating the CBD world can be overwhelming, even for more experienced users. Here’s what to look for when evaluating a product.

Look for a product that has a COA from a third-party lab. At a minimum, most brands will include the cannabinoid profile and potency. Check to make sure this matches what’s on the product label.

Some companies also test for contaminants, like:

Products that provide this information (and pass) are your best bets safety-wise.

If the company doesn’t provide a COA or provides one that’s incomplete or old, it probably isn’t the most quality company.

Look for products made with U.S.-grown hemp, which is subject to agricultural regulations.

Also consider the type of hemp. If you’re looking for a product that’s federally legal, look for a full-spectrum product with less than 0.3% THC, or an isolate or broad-spectrum product.

Watch out for red flags when shopping. These include:

You can learn more about how to read a CBD product label here.

When looking for a pill or capsule to suit your specific needs, consider:

For example, if you want something you can use before bedtime, look for a product that contains high levels of linalool, a terpene found in lavender and cannabis. Linalool has been shown to help with relaxation and anxiety, which may aid in sleep.

Consider other factors that may be important to you. For example, if you’re a vegetarian, you’ll want to read ingredient lists closely and look for a product that doesn’t contain gelatin — as many of these products do.

Depending on how easy it is for you to swallow pills, you may also want to consider capsule size and shape.

CBD oils are one of the most popular types of CBD products. They usually come in a bottle with a dropper, which you use to place the oil under your tongue.

CBD pills and capsules, on the other hand, come in a traditional softgel form. You take them as you would any other pill.

Some people prefer capsules to oils because they’re pre-dosed, and they don’t taste like anything. CBD oils can be flavored, but if they don’t have any added flavoring, they can have a sort of earthy taste.

Compared with oils placed under your tongue, capsules may take longer to produce an effect. That’s because capsules are subject to what’s called the “first pass effect.” This means that after you swallow them, they’re partially broken down in your digestive system and liver.

People take CBD capsules for a variety of reasons, including:

They’re a good choice if you’re looking for full-body effects. If you’re hoping for improvement in a localized area, you may want to consider a topical.

Dosing CBD can be tricky. There’s no one-size-fits-all dose, because everyone’s bodies respond differently to CBD. The clinical evidence we have for dosing CBD in humans is limited, and more research is needed before we can determine ideal safe doses.

With that in mind, the golden rule of dosing is “go low and slow.” Start at a low dose, see how it makes you feel, and adjust as needed. Some people find starting with 10 or 20 mg of CBD works, while others may need 40.

Adjusting by 5 to 10 mg at a time is a safe bet. It may take a few weeks of experimenting before you find your ideal dose. You’ll know a dose is just right if you begin to experience a reduction in symptoms.

Keep in mind that full-spectrum or broad-spectrum products can feel more potent than isolate.

Studies show that CBD is considered to be safe and generally well-tolerated in humans at doses of up to 1,500 mg per day. However, CBD users may still experience some side effects.

These can include:

One randomized clinical trial suggested that consuming CBD products with high fat meals can drastically increase CBD concentrations. This may increase the risk of side effects.

Talk with a doctor before taking CBD, especially if you’re taking any medications or supplements. CBD can have significant drug interactions, especially with medications that carry a grapefruit warning.

It can take up to 1 or 2 hours for the effects of a CBD capsule to kick in.

No. By itself, CBD doesn’t cause a “high.” However, many CBD products contain THC. If you take a high enough dose of a potent enough product, you may be consuming enough THC to feel the effects.

Full-spectrum and broad-spectrum CBD capsules may be more beneficial than CBD isolate capsules thanks to the entourage effect. However, CBD isolate may also offer benefits on its own.

CBD capsules typically contain CBD oil. They’re just a different delivery mechanism. Some people prefer capsules because they dislike the taste of oils. Others find that capsules are more convenient and less messy than CBD oils.

Yes, but make sure to pay close attention to the dosage of each product.

CBD pills are easy to use and offer reliable dosing. However, they may break down in the digestive tract, making them feel less potent.

You’ll need to experiment until you find your “just right” CBD dosage. Be sure to talk with a doctor before trying CBD.

Is CBD legal? The 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from the legal definition of marijuana in the Controlled Substances Act. This made some hemp-derived CBD products with less than 0.3% THC legal at the federal level. However, CBD products containing more than 0.3% THC still fall under the legal definition of marijuana, making them illegal at the federal level. Some states have legalized CBD, so be sure to check state laws, especially when traveling. Also, keep in mind that the FDA has not approved nonprescription CBD products, and some products may be inaccurately labeled.