As businesses look to take full advantage of cloud as a modern delivery platform for products, services and experiences, they need partners with advanced, demonstrable skills.
Ascent’s new Designated Solution Partner status for Azure Infrastructure is another milestone moment in our strategic alliance with Microsoft, validating our extensive and proven expertise in helping customers build business capabilities on Azure.
Microsoft Solutions Partner Designations: what they are and what they mean.
Partner designations were introduced by Microsoft in 2022 to replace the longstanding Gold and Silver categorisations, changing the emphasis from a broad set of disciplines across a range of technologies to a deeper, more cloud-focussed and narrower set of six designations: Data & AI, Infrastructure, Digital & App Innovation, Business Applications, Modern Work and Security.
This change is intended to both make it easier for customers to identify the right partner for their business and create real confidence in their stated areas of expertise: the new Solution Partner Designations have raised the bar in terms of certification expectations and are extremely challenging to achieve. Cloud Solutions Partners must now demonstrate outstanding proficiency in three categories – Performance, Skilling and Customer Success.
Rising to the challenge.
Our teams at Ascent relished the opportunity to test their mettle against the new standards and have risen to the challenge, far exceeding Microsoft’s success thresholds with near-perfect scores in the Azure Infrastructure assessment.
“The technology solutions we passionately build at Ascent increasingly blend data, software, apps and infrastructure seamlessly into digital products that power our customers’ businesses,” explains Ascent CTO Murray Foxcroft.
It is this powerful triangle of capability, underscored by our service design experience that helps us deliver end-to-end success and delight customers.
“The resounding achievement of this third designation in Azure Infrastructure helps us stand out competitively and is testament to the strength of our core cloud expertise - I couldn’t be prouder of our teams, " he concludes.
Nicki Farrell, Ascent’s Alliances Director, is equally delighted with the achievement (and keen to get onto the next one).
“I am so proud to see Ascent achieve this partnership milestone with Microsoft - it’s fitting testament to the investment and emphasis we put on skilling and tech intensity. Watch this space for more designation and advanced specialisation news - as I always say, better never stops!”