Anyone who is serious about being in IT needs to certify but more importantly needs to continuously learn. I ensure I put training and certification dollars into my budget so my team can pursue the training they require. I'm now in to management so certification is a lot less of a requirement for my me, it's more personal growth and executive education.

The only thing I will add from my experience getting certifications earlier on in my career is sometimes by the book isn't the only solution. There is always more than one way to solve a problem and sometimes "by the book" isn't always the best way from what I've learnt.

Either way, to certify proves something not only to yourself but to your peers in the industry and future employers. You're qualified :) (just so long as your not a paper certified IT person)