When you see the Microsoft Partner logo on a familiar, yet evolving badge type graphic on the Advisicon website, the list of competencies can seem a bit mystifying. While I appreciate the hard work and accomplishment of the award and certification, I wondered what these gold and silver certifications meant to our company. Since I am still relatively new to the company, I figured I would demystify them for us newbies.
Advisicon is a proud member of the Microsoft Partner Network. This esteemed network sets us apart from other Project, Program, and Portfolio Consulting firms. It assures our clients and customers that we are experts in our field.
Being a gold partner also affords us exclusive access to cutting-edge technologies and solutions. These are often rolled out by the biggest tech companies in the world before public release. These competencies confirm that when you work with Advisicon, you are working with the best in the business.
As a Microsoft Partner Network Gold Level Member, we are able to attain specific competency levels within several Microsoft product divisions. Currently, we hold a gold level in Project and Portfolio Management, Data Analytics, Cloud Productivity, and Windows and Devices. Our silver (still not too shabby) competencies include Collaboration and Content along with Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions. It would be appropriate to add here that only five of our six competencies can be showcased on an official Microsoft Partner graphic as seen below.
What do these different Microsoft Partner competencies mean?
Let’s start with the first line on the badge, the Gold Project and Portfolio Management certification. Advisicon lives, breathes, and bleeds Project and Portfolio Management. Our company tagline is “Helping You Build a Project Management Culture.” So, clearly, we LOVE Project and Portfolio Management. The Microsoft gold competency demonstrates our expert level in consulting and delivering PPM solutions built on the Microsoft Project platform. We literally helped write the MS Project “book.”
Next is the Gold Data Analytics competency. It’s well known that business intelligence and analytics are critical to top company executives. If you can visually see your company story using complex data, you can find risks and opportunities quickly and strategize accordingly. Power BI customization can create turn-key dashboards, generating actionable business insights which can be used to transform your business. Advisicon employs Power BI and Analytics experts who truly get giddy when teaching or training on ways to pull data from multiple platforms creating real-time reports so that executives can make data-driven decisions with confidence!
The Gold Cloud Productivity competency. The cloud has become the most widely used technology that is least understood. There is a cloak of mystery to this technology, storage vacuum that seems to be something we accept without question. In reality, cloud computing is pretty simple. It’s a way of storing/accessing programs, platforms, and data via the Internet instead of your hard drive or local network.
As Microsoft states, “The Cloud Productivity competency is for partners who specialize in enterprise deployments of Office 365.” We work with customers by looking at multiple scenarios to find the best cloud-based solution for their needs.
You would think that a Gold competency in Windows and Devices would be easy. But alas, with the hundreds of options and configurations, you can waste a lot of valuable time and resources figuring out the best set-up for your organization. This certification gives Advisicon access to all the secret sauce in the Microsoft Windows world. This spans services, applications, resources, tools, and devices. We get to play with the latest technology in a demo environment. We test what works and what doesn’t, so you don’t have to.
With Advisicon’s Silver Collaboration and Content certification, you can have confidence that our team can guide you through the content organization exercise using the popular SharePoint solution. SharePoint is a web-based application for document management, collaboration, and data storage in a shared enterprise environment. Because of the vast templates and configuration options, having a SharePoint SME at your disposal is invaluable when utilizing this popular organization intranet option.
Lastly (for now) the Silver Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions certification lets small businesses know that we have the capabilities and knowledge to grow and scale capacity with ease using Office 365 and its best-in-class productivity and security. We understand that small businesses don’t always have the time or resources to explore all the options. Our experts help you avoid the risks and pitfalls of getting your organization started in the cloud. The Microsoft certification tells the world that you can rest assure an engagement or deployment with us will be well worth it!
So, when the rubber hits the road, that fancy badge we tout is not to brag. It demonstrates that we have done the rigorous training, research, and heavy lifting. We are more than ready to elevate your organization’s technology and efficiencies.
If you’re ready to move your business forward, get in touch with us. Our expert team is pure gold!
