A personal message from Ken Holmes, CEO of CertiKit, to our customers:
After forty years in the IT industry and fifteen years of creating and selling document toolkits, I’m retiring. As I am now the only employee, this means that I will be closing down CertiKit (please see the Q & A below for more detail on this). I’d like to thank each and every one of you over the years who have, without exception, been a joy to deal with. When I created our first toolkit (for the ISO/IEC 20000 standard) I had no idea that people would find them useful, or that we would end up creating so many. Over the years I’ve learned a huge amount in so many areas and I’ve tried to put as much useful information into our toolkits as I could and to make them as easy to use as possible. The feedback we’ve had has always been overwhelmingly positive and it’s a huge testament to all of you, our customers, that you’ve used our toolkits so professionally to achieve positive change within your organisations. But nothing lasts forever and now seems to be an appropriate time to call it a day. As always, good luck with your work, and I wish everyone well in navigating these increasingly turbulent times.
Questions and Answers
Why is CertiKit closing down?
The main reason is that the toolkit author, and sole employee, is retiring. Contributory factors are the increasing capabilities of AI tools and the continuing level of worldwide economic uncertainty affecting demand (probably).
When will CertiKit stop selling toolkits?
Our last day of online sales will be Friday 30th October 2026, when we will be open until 5pm UK time. We will be offering a 50% discount on all toolkits until then.
Will I still be able to log on to the CertiKit website to access my accounts for invoices and to download the latest version of toolkits I have bought?
Yes, until 5pm UK time on Friday 18th December 2026. After this date, the website will no longer be available.
Will there be any more updates to the toolkits?
The last toolkit update to be produced will be for the ISO9001 standard, which is being updated by ISO during September 2026. Existing ISO 9001 toolkit customers will get this free of charge, as usual. There will be no further updates to this or any other toolkit products after that.
Why haven’t you sold the business to someone else?
We did try to do this (twice), but without success and now the performance of the business is on a downward trend, partly due to the impact of AI, and we believe there is no viable business case for a sale.
What happens to the toolkits?
The intellectual property of the toolkits will be transferred to our group company.
Does this make a difference to the licensing terms of the toolkits?
No, the toolkits are still licensed to be used within a single management system as per the original terms of sale.
What does this mean for members of the CertiKit Consultants Scheme?
Existing members of the CertiKit Consultants Scheme are permitted to use any toolkits they have purchased with their consultancy clients going forward.
Will the toolkits be available for sale from anywhere else?
No, we have not licensed any other parties to sell the toolkits. The name CertiKit is still the property of the group company and no-one else should claim to be an authorised seller. We will make an announcement if this changes.
Will any ongoing support be available for existing customers?
No, after the closure of our website on 18th December 2026 there will be no ongoing support. We actually get very few support requests (maybe one a month), so we believe the impact of this will be minimal in reality.
What will happen to customers of the CertiKit Awareness Training platform?
We will be working with existing customers to transfer their accounts to another provider. This should be seamless in terms of their use of the system, with the main difference being who they will deal with for licensing and payment.
