In 2010 Microsoft did away with its long-standing “Certified” and “Gold-Certified” partner designations, replacing them with new “Gold” and “Silver” competencies which identify partners’ core capabilities and expertise in specific Microsoft business solution areas.
The criteria to qualify for these new competencies is much more comprehensive, requiring partners to pass technical exams and business assessments based on the latest Microsoft product versions, acquire certifications, provide three to five customer references per competency, and in the case of a gold competency, an additional Customer Satisfaction Index.
Currently there are more than 400,000 Microsoft partners worldwide eligible to attain these new competencies. Of these, fewer than 7% have achieved one or more of the 29 available competencies – Catapult Systems has accomplished 11 gold and 17 silver competencies. To date fewer than five companies have achieved more than six gold competencies, placing Catapult in the top 0.05% of Microsoft partners worldwide.
Catapult's Gold Competencies:
- Business Intelligence
- Content Management
- Desktop
- Digital Marketing
- Portals and Collaboration
- Search
- Server Platform
- Software Development
- Systems Management
- Unified Communications
- Virtualization
Catapult's Silver Competencies:
- Application Integration
- Business Intelligence
- Content Management
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Data Platform
- Desktop
- Digital Marketing
- Identity and Security
- Midmarket Solution Provider
- Mobility
- Portals and Collaboration
- Project and Portfolio Management
- Search
- Software Development
- Systems Management
- Unified Communications
- Virtualization
Note: “Gold” or “Certified” no longer apply to a Microsoft partner overall. Instead, the new “Gold” and “Silver” designations are specific to competencies. Additionally these competencies do not equate to the former Gold-Certified Partner membership status.
To learn more about the certified partner and competency changes, read Eric Ligman’s blog post, “The Microsoft Partner Network: Gold Competencies & Silver Competencies – Part 1: Branding.” To learn more about Microsoft’s partner program and achieving competencies click here.