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Microsoft: We have a bullet ready for 12 competencies

You want the cloud? You are going to get it anyway, like it or not

Microsoft is to take 12 "old world" accreditations out back to be shot as it drags channel partners – some of them kicking and screaming – into the cloud.

Gavriella Schuster, GM of Microsoft’s worldwide partner group, said it will “streamline” certifications and funnel investment on “building successful cloud practices”.

“Over the next 18 months, we will retire some competencies and add new ones,” she revealed.

Those on the conveyor belt of death include CRM, devices and deployment, digital advertising, distributor, hosting, identity and access, intelligent systems, learning, mid market solution provider, OEM, software asset management and volume licensing.

Microsoft is mindful that past efforts to introduce certifications for a cloudy landscape were scrapped because many in the channel weren’t ready for them.

This time round, the Luddites have a year and a half to get ready for the competency cull. That said, Microsoft is actually going to introduce a Windows & Devices track later this month, said Schuster.

Apparently, this was “designed to help you take advantage of the unprecedented demand we’re seeing for Windows 10 and mobility.”

Microsoft last year told us that the vast majority of channel businesses that sell its software or services had already made the move to managed services/cloud.

The problem though is that for many, the on-premise side of the revenues still far outweigh the cloud stuff. ®

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