It's amazing to comprehend and observe how cloud computing has progressed over the past years. It originally offered a cost-effective, convenient means to store data and provision servers. Today, the cloud is driving a lot more business value and streamlining the way companies conduct IT operations. It's also used to engage customers, develop applications, and administer businesses more efficiently and productively.

According to a report by IDC, 60 percent of all IT infrastructure spending and 70 percent of software services and technology spending will be cloud-based by 2020. Cloud computing is having a dramatic impact on the way organizations run their businesses. The professionals in this domain have several great cloud platforms from which to choose. One of these established platforms is Microsoft Azure, the fastest growing cloud platform available.

Microsoft Azure offers a wealth of benefits for cloud developers, architects, and administrators who are trying to build and run better businesses using the cloud.

Need for Skilled Employees in the Cloud Domain

A career in the cloud computing domain is an attractive choice today because organizations are in great need of skilled cloud professionals. The skills gap is costing businesses more than $250 million every year all around the world. To add to this loss, the skills gap is growing faster every day, and every minute.

A recent survey shows that 46 percent of organizations believe the skills gap is due to their employees’ lack of advanced skillsets.

Cloud computing topped the list of most sought after skills in 2016-17 and is said to be the second-highest driver of demand for cloud skills. Over 11,000 job listings on Dice mentioned cloud computing, whereas Indeed has more than 25,000 job listings related to the cloud.

Emerging Jobs in Cloud Computing

This demand for qualified candidates means it’s easy to get started in the cloud computing domain. However, there are various roles available in this domain, namely,

Cloud administrator

Cloud developer

Cloud architect

Cloud engineer

Cloud security expert

And the list goes on...

The New Microsoft’s Role-based Certifications

While Microsoft storms ahead to capture more of the cloud computing market, they are also updating their certifications that are based on specific roles. Microsoft has announced three new Azure certification paths for administrators, developers, and solutions architects. These role-based paths can be used to align the certifications with specific roles in the industry.

Read our article for a thorough understanding of the new certification, the executed changes, and how businesses and organizations can utilize this role-based certification to upgrade their employee's skills.

Growing Need for Azure in Organizations

Microsoft’s has been putting its cards on the table well. In 2018, enterprise adoption of the Azure platform increased significantly from 43 to 58 percent and gained a 35 percent CAGR. A few causes for the soaring popularity and demand of Azure include:

The Hybrid Cloud : 58 percent of organizations are planning a hybrid cloud approach. To strategically optimize results, both public and private clouds are used. Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella often refers to the hybrid cloud, citing Microsoft’s aggressive deployment of its architectural advantage in recognizing no significant difference between on-premise technology, cloud, and edge. Microsoft is also offering cloud services support with new platforms like Azure StorSimple, Hybrid SQL Server, and Azure Stack, a new hybrid cloud platform product that brings full public Azure functionality to your own on-premises data centers.

The Cloud-first Focus : Nadella has made the cloud one of the top priorities by practicing a “cloud-first” approach to the thriving technology. Microsoft has additionally grown a vast global cloud network of its own. The strategy doesn’t stop here. Microsoft has been offering incentives to customers to adopt a cloud-first approach of their own.

The Usecase : Teams and organizations with Windows admin experience can quickly develop and administer Azure. It’s simple to integrate on-premises Windows servers with cloud instances to create a hybrid environment and, at the same time, leverage other Microsoft tools such as SQL databases and Active Directory.

Teams and Organizations Should Switch to Azure

The Azure platform has been gaining momentum and for valid reasons. With the New Role-Based Azure Certifications , professionals can get the desired skill set and expertise in a specific area rather than learning diverse skills that might not be relevant and suitable for their role. Organizations can identify and address the specific lack of skills in their employees and help their teams to upskill. The “role-based” certifications help to reduce the training costs and time required to upskill the existing employees.

Well, it goes without saying that it’s critical to ensure your IT and development teams are fit for the cloud. It’s high time to build your next-generation cloud strategy to stay competitive and ahead of the game.



Here are some Recommended Microsoft Azure Courses .

Also, you can validate your cloud expertise with our free Assessment Quiz: AZ-900T01: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals