The Microsoft Sales Specialist program has really evolved over the past few months. What began as a Virtualization accreditation has developed into 9 tracks that allow you to show customers your areas of expertise. Server Platform and Systems Management tracks have released this week. Here are the overviews and list of available courses. You can take as many courses as you need or proceed directly to the assessment.

Server Platform

Attaining the Server Platform competency helps you capitalize on strong customer demand for Windows Server and Windows Server–based infrastructure solutions. Driving this growth are top chief information officer (CIO) priorities, such as the need to reduce IT infrastructure costs, the need to provide applications to run businesses and reach customers more effectively, disaster recovery, server virtualization, and server consolidation. The Server Platform competency assures your customers that you have the expertise to address their needs, by controlling operating costs and increasing efficiencies through more effective applications, reduced IT labor and facilities costs, and consolidated servers. Earning this trust can translate to more cross-sell and up-sell opportunities for your business.

Available courses:

  • Server Modernization with Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Windows Server2008 R2 Sales Discussion Guide
  • Windows Server 2008 R2: Overall Value and Sales Opportunities
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Intermediate: Licensing, Pricing, and Packaging
  • DriveTime, Partner Sales Edition – Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
  • How to Sell Windows Server® 2008 R2 and Server Virtualization with Hyper-V

Systems Management

The systems management market is growing, due to the need to reduce costs from customers' IT infrastructures, along with other top chief information officer (CIO) priorities that include disaster recovery, server virtualization, server consolidation, and data center consolidation. System Center technologies can address these needs by creating operational efficiencies, IT-labor cost savings, and support for consolidating multiple physical servers within a virtual infrastructure to reduce hardware costs. By attaining the Systems Management competency, you'll have access to a large base of potential customers, including those running Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint solutions, those deploying the Windows 7 operating system and Microsoft Office suites, and those virtualizing their IT infrastructures with solutions, such as Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager, Microsoft System Center Operations Manager, Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager, Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager, and Microsoft System Center Essentials.

Courses coming soon!