On the 3rd October 2022, something changed. In our opinion, this change was long overdue. At String, we have been busy building our internal training academy around a new way of working. This training programme was designed around all things Microsoft Cloud, and we could see the benefit this would have for our team, but more importantly, for you, our clients.
It was on this day, that the Legacy Gold / Silver Microsoft Partner competencies and associated badging became no longer be valid. This is a global change by Microsoft, and meant that the entire Microsoft partner ecosystem could no longer use old designations or badges. In its place, Microsoft introduced a far more stringent “Solutions Partner Designation”. String is proud to have attained this higher level of competency demanded by Microsoft.
To be fair, this is also the same high standard that we expect from our staff training academy, so we were delighted to see that the way Microsoft had structured the new designations was very similar to our own structure. This also meant that we were ahead of the game with regards to attaining the new competencies.
The new structure no longer relies on just technical knowledge. The partner must also demonstrate that they have active clients using the technology as well. This will discount a few partners that simply took an exam to gain a competency, but never really deployed the solution. This directly benefits you, the client. When you work with a Microsoft partner that has attained the right Solutions Partner Designation, you can be reassured that not only do they really know what they are talking about, they can demonstrate it as well.
We will miss our Gold status as it has served us well. We now look forward to taking ourselves and our clients to the next level with the new Solutions Partner Designations.
When looking for a Microsoft partner to help you deliver the right solutions within your business, don’t pick a Gold partner, as they don’t exist anymore. Pick a Solutions Partner. Your business will thank you for it.