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Surveys: 7 Vendor Tech Certifications End Users Love


Technical certifications are a major factor in end users' selection of solution and service providers. Channel Insider and Amazon Consulting asked more than 200 enterprise and midmarket purchases which vendor certifications they value the most when selecting a solution provider. Here are the top seven.
 
  • Vendor affiliation and technical certifications are marks of excellence that demonstrates a solution providers’ competency in designing, delivering and servicing vendor products. Vendor certifications ranked highest among end users in factors used to select a solution provider.
  • 77 percent of enterprises and midmarket companies that say vendor-specific certifications such as the MCSE or CCNA are more important than general technical certifications.
  • Virtualization is one of the hottest technologies in market and end users are looking for solution provider that are competency in the products sold by market leader VMware.
  • Despite its recent struggles, Dell is a brand that smaller companies gravitate toward. That makes it no surprise that Dell certifications are more valued amond midmarket companies.
  • Hewlett-Packard is a staple of the IT market, providing products that fit just about every need from the data center to the desktop. And HP is a market leader in several categories, making it a must-have certification among all businesses.
  • Just as Dell tends to cater to midmarket businesses, Oracle is specialized in servicing larger companies and enterprises with its database and business software.
  • Overall, IBM ranks third in the most valued technical certifications. The breadth of its hardware, software and services makes its certifications a necessity for solution providers and highly valued among end users.
  • Cisco Systems makes up the backbone of IT infrastructure. End users rely on Cisco for everything from networking to voice to security implementations. That means they'll seek solution providers with Cisco certifications to ensure a high quality of service.
  • Microsoft's broad line of software products and development tools make its certifications the most valued among end users. When selecting a solution provider, end users will look for companies that demonstrate Microsoft competencies.