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Microsoft Certification Helps to Increase Business Market Value by up to 40% - IDC study on The Value of Certification: Team Certification & Organizational Performance

According to a recent IDC study, one of the best ways to improve performance is to help build employee’s skills through Microsoft certification. The study shows there is a direct link between productivity and the concentration of certified members in a team. Top performing teams have between 40% and 55% of Microsoft certified employees trained on specific technologies and processes. Improved performance comes from a highly certified team that reduces downtime as they work more efficiently. Server and client applications can also be more easily done on time and on budget when teams are Microsoft certified as they apply best practices from training.

As companies grow, the value of certification becomes increasingly important. So IT professionals who want to join larger organizations get themselves certified to improve their performance and marketability. In fact, up to 75% of managers believe in the importance of certification and 66% trust it improves the level of service and support offered to IT end-users and customers.

Microsoft certification promotes individual growth by increasing the market value of certified employees. The average salary uplift reported across all Microsoft certifications is between 5% and 11%, according to the IDC report. Individuals who actively seek certification also report strong career growth.

Businesses need to think of long-term strategies to optimize their infrastructure in order to advance their IT capabilities. Infrastructure optimization benefits the business needs and strategy by driving business results. IT skills are needed to support the investment in infrastructure optimization and certification is the key to solve overall business objectives of industry players.

Six of Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professionals share their views on how Microsoft Certification adds value to their organizations, personal career growth and IT communities as a whole.

Situation

Edwin Sarmiento, Senior Systems, Engineer & Database, Administrator, Fujitsu, Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore

Having certified individuals within the company awards the organization with hard evidence which serves to outshine competitors.  Joy Rathnayake Senior Software Engineer IronOne Technologies, Sri Lanka

As the technology industry in Asia Pacific continues to grow, hiring managers are fighting for those who can demonstrate their talent. Companies need to stay ahead of the competition by hiring and retaining the best employees who can improve all-around performance. According to Garner’s annual IT Market Compensation study, Chief Information Officers need more IT workers as they focus on having a workforce whose strengths lie in information and technology. A more objective measure, such as certification, proves a candidate’s skill level instead of simply relying on what they self-report.

There is also rising competition for skilled employees as organizations insist on increased efficiency and productivity. Businesses must continually improve their performance to remain competitive.

Solution

One way to increase the skill levels of employees is through Microsoft certification. Microsoft certification assures that professionals get useful knowledge that helps improve performance. According to the

IDC study, team performance increases each time a team member becomes certified which then leads to an overall increase in productivity. Microsoft certifications are directly relevant to areas professionals wish to specialize in as they are targeted at specific technology segments such as SQL Server or .NET applications. This helps CIOs’ make sure their team’s strengths are in core areas of IT while helping to identify areas of improvement. The new generation of certification is designed to verify both technical and job specific skills to further help hiring managers target their search criteria, making Microsoft certification the ideal solution to solve the modern day IT business’ situation. Benefits By pursuing Microsoft certification, our MVPs testify that improvements can be found at the organizational, team and individual level.

Benefits

Faisal Henry Susanto, Email Administrator, PT Freeport Indonesia, Indonesia

By pursuing Microsoft certification, our MVPs testify that improvements can be found at the organizational, team and individual level.

Adds Organizational Value

Customers have more confidence in the abilities of a certified team, which can then help organizations increase their market share by being more attractive to potential clients.

As more customers specifically request for Microsoft certified staff in their tenders, organizations that have a high concentration of certified staff are at a distinct advantage.  Joy Rathnayake Senior Software Engineer IronOne Technologies, Sri Lanka

Joey Gurango, founder and CTO of Gurango Software, is a strong believer in certification. Leading software development teams increasing commercial products that integrate with the Microsoft Dynamics and Office product platforms, 95% of Joey’s technology team members have at least one Microsoft certification.  From a marketing perspective, Joey says that his 70-strong team commands a higher price because of Microsoft certification which helps them to earn customer confidence.

Joey says that “having Microsoft certification is the most visible way to demonstrate confidence in a particular technology. Training is simply a mode of learning but we need to prove our competency. Certification is the tangible proof that demonstrates our competency in any particular technology.”

Certification can also help boost employee confidence which helps in delivering increase efficiency and productivity. In fact, Joey’s organization makes it part of employees’ KPIs to obtain Microsoft certification and even encourages them by subsidizing part of the cost.

Joey Gurango, Founder & Chief, Technical Officer, Gurango Software, Philippines

Sarbjit Singh Gill is a Unified Communications and Collaborations Specialist and regional Microsoft Consultant at British Telecommunications (BT) in Singapore who has 19 years of IT experience. Sarbjit describes how tenders for new projects often require Microsoft certified members on the team. When Sarbjit ran his own consultancy for seven years prior to joining BT, his team won 50% of their new projects thanks to a certifications that earned clients trust more easily due to the credibility of Microsoft certification.

“I provided specialist Microsoft Technologies services in consulting, architecting, design, implementation, troubleshooting and performance tuning to many Microsoft partner companies and their customers,” explains Sarbjit

"I had customers who felt comfortable knowing there was an MCSE on the team. In some cases where the customer is also certified, they feel good to have a peer in the vendor they are engaging and thus are willing to pay a premium,” says Sarbjit.

As more customers specifically request Microsoft certified staff in their tenders, organizations with high numbers of them have an advantage.

Joy Rathnayake, a Senior Software Engineer from Sri Lanka, works for IronOne Technologies – a software design and development company which specializes in outsourced IT services. Joy says that he helped increase IronOne’s businesses up to 80% by winning new projects on the basis of certification. IronOne Technologies is a preferred partner for projects involving Microsoft Global Services and Asia Consulting Services thanks to their various areas of expertise with certified employees.

Joy, who leads IronOne’s .NET team, stresses that having certified staff gives the company hard evidence of skill sets which then lead to project wins and increased businesses.

Increases Team Performance

Joy Rathnayake, Senior Software, Engineer, IronOne Technologies, Sri Lanka

In terms of team motivation, a certified individual is a point of contact for technology questions when others hit the wall, and assures our clients that there is somebody with the right credentials for the job.   Sarbjit Singh Gill Unified Communications and Collaboration Specialist British Telecommunications, Singapore

The MVPs agree that Microsoft certification increases self-confidence which can help improve teams dramatically in terms of efficiency and knowledge sharing.

Sarbjit, who regularly speaks at the SQL Server Windows User Groups in the Singapore Community, believes that certified professionals are able to perform tasks 30% to 40% faster as they learn how to apply best practices taught by Microsoft.

“Certified employees have the ability to pinpoint the cause of errors faster than others as we apply best practices learnt. For example, by using a check-list to troubleshoot problems, we are able to solve most cases quickly,” says Sarbjit.

Having a highly certified team encourages knowledge sharing while boosting efficiency as employees learn more productive ways to manage their projects through training.

Edwin Sarmiento is a Senior Systems Engineer for Fujitsu Asia Pte Ltd based in Singapore and holds 10 Microsoft Certifications. Specializing in Enterprise Hosting Services, Edwin’s team provides organizations with secure network infrastructure. He explains how, thanks to certified professionals on his team, they created a script which alerts users to expiring passwords and completes the task efficiently.

“We created a script which alerts mobile users who seldom connect to the domain to expiring passwords and sends them a reminder to change them. Also, auditing was previously hard to do manually so we created a script to help us in terms of hardware and software. Now, we complete the same task within hours instead of a couple of days. This gives us more impetus to obtain certification and increases our self confidence in fulfilling projects,” says Edwin.

Rob Farley, Consultant & Trainer, Solid Quality Learning, Pty Ltd, Australia

As a certified developer, IT professional and trainer for four years, Edwin adds that “having certified staff within the team enables members to talk about their competencies and share knowledge which helps in solving problems in their day-to-day job. It also helps them correlate the exam questions with real-life situations and how to address those challenges.”

Apart from increasing efficiency, the professionals interviewed agree with Edwin that certified employees are able to share their knowledge with their colleagues.

Rob Farley, a Microsoft Certified Trainer, mentor and consultant for Solid Quality Learning Pty Ltd in Australia who holds over 20 Microsoft Certifications, explains that “as people learn about new technologies, the environment of knowledge sharing that was set up for the purpose of certification leads to knowledge being shared around the team.”

“The individuals who get certified gain confidence, which lifts the rest of the team. They tend to share new things they learnt with the team, which also helps the whole group,” says Rob.

Promotes Individual Growth

Ultimately, certification does add to one’s market value as companies will pay a premium when they see that an employee is Microsoft certified.  Edwin Sarmiento Senior Systems Engineer & Database Administrator Fujitsu Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore

Microsoft certification is also seen as a stepping stone towards recognition in the industry. It boosts career growth and gives an opportunity to increase market value.

Sarbjit Singh Gill, Unified Communications & Collaboration Specialist, British Telecommunications, Singapore

According to the MVPs, a certified employee warrants at least 5% to 20% more in salary. “Every time I passed an exam I was given a 100 dollar raise in my salary – essentially, I got a 70% pay increase within given years,” says Sarbjit who holds eight Microsoft Certifications.

Microsoft certified professionals could increase their market value by up to 50% according to Joy who is a Microsoft Certified Trainer, Professional Developer and Technology Specialist for over two years while being a leader and active contributor to IT groups in Sri Lanka.

Career progression is also a key benefit as professionals seek to grow in their industry.

Edwin testifies that Microsoft certification helped him to enter the IT industry. “Microsoft certification was the key to bringing me here in Singapore. I would not have landed my first job here if I was not an MCT. My certification was a stepping stone to get into the industry as I hold a degree that is not relevant to this field,” says Edwin, who also serves as a member and speaker of four Microsoft user groups.

“It also gave me the opportunity to do business with Microsoft training partners overseas due to their certification requirements. The certification validates my competencies in working with and managing a specific Microsoft technology,” says Edwin.

These MVPs were motivated to seek certification as multinational companies are beginning to make it mandatory.

Faisal Henry Susanto, an email administrator at PT Freeport Indonesia which exclusively uses Microsoft technologies such as Exchange and SharePoint, adds that certification “shows you are a dedicated and motivated person, and I believe those traits are what every company seeks in an employee.” As a community leader for Indonesia’s largest IT-Pro community, Faisal believes that “in a large organization, certification is the easiest way for an IT staff to demonstrate and prove their knowledge to the human resource team.”

The MVPs say that Microsoft certification promotes individual growth as their career success stories speak for the Microsoft-elves by demonstrating an increase in market value coupled with career growth in their respective fields.

Corporate Success with Microsoft Certification

Microsoft’s MVPs highlight that certification delivers results at the organizational, team and individual levels with demonstrable improvements in credibility, productivity and personal growth. Believing in the myriad of advantages that Microsoft certification brings, these professionals continue to update their knowledge by getting trained in the latest technology with the help of Microsoft.

For More Information

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The Value of Certification: Team Certification and Organizational Performance – An IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft, Doc #204360 Nov 2006

Annual IT Market Compensation Study – Gartner, July 2007

This case study represents personal opinions of the featured Most Valued Professionals and does not reflect the opinions of their employers. The case study is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express, implied or statutory, as to the information in this document.

Document published 01/05/08