Years ago, companies could get discounts if they were a “certified gold partner” or whatever.

To be a partner, the company would need a certain number of certifications among their employees, so there was tangible value to companies who either used a ton of Microsoft licensing or Cisco/Dell hardware, or resold those to their own clients (better discount equating to higher margin).

In some cases, getting the higher level certifications like Cisco CCIE was a virtual guarantee of a good job.

I feel like this has become less of a thing in recent years, but I’m not involved in that space anymore.