Microsoft today called for IT professionals across UAE and the wider Middle East to prepare themselves for a cloud future by sharpening their skills in Microsoft Azure, through the company’s cloud trainings and certifications.
A recent worldwide survey conducted by Microsoft showed a marked increase in the salaries of cloud professionals, as companies recruit for their digital transformation journeys. The survey also noted that 37% of respondents in the Middle East and Africa region cited a skills gap as the main barrier to cloud adoption.
An IDC forecast from 2015 projects that by 2020, more than one in three IT positions worldwide will be cloud related and that the cloud-readiness of professionals will start to have a significant impact on operations. The report also suggested IT employment worldwide will grow by around 4% every year up to 2020, and that all growth will occur in cloud-related positions.
An IDC White Paper sponsored by Microsoft Corp. shows global demand for “cloud-ready” IT workers will grow by 26 percent annually through 2015 and onwards, with as many as 7 million cloud-related jobs available worldwide. According to the study, IT hiring managers report that the biggest reason they failed to fill 1.7 million open cloud-related positions in 2012 was because job seekers lacked the training and certification needed to work in a cloud-enabled world.
“Microsoft’s cloud trainings allow IT professionals to broaden their horizons by gaining practical, instantly applicable cloud skills,” said Necip Ozyucel, Cloud & Enterprise Business Solutions Lead, Microsoft Gulf. “In the GCC, governments have initiated bold economic-development visions centred on technology,” said Ozyucel. “Much of the activity in the private and public sectors around these programmes – especially given the emerging constraints of the petrochemical price dip – is about doing more with less. In the context of digital transformation, that means cloud, so the surge in demand for cloud specialists is to be expected.”
“Training is one of the best investments you can make in your career,” said Ozyucel. “Azure Certifications can be the first step in your journey towards cloud expertise. Then you will be in a better position to add value to your employer’s business or to help your customers with their own journeys to digital transformation, where they can benefit from Microsoft Azure’s global coverage across 36 regions.”
