The sudden push into remote work this past year has prompted more and more business leaders to consider the long view when it comes to digital transformation. The rising demand to bring people together with secure cloud productivity has led to a parallel demand for more specialized cloud experts.
Just as Microsoft 365 has stepped into the cloud productivity gap in a big way, enabling organizations to thrive in this new world of remote and hybrid work and learning, our Modern Work & Security certifications help pave the way for partners to become the experts those organizations are looking for.
We’re excited to announce two developments for our Modern Work & Security (MW&S) certifications program: four new security-focused certifications and a new no-cost certification renewal program.
Four new Security, Compliance, and Identity certifications for today’s environment
Security is at an inflection point as digital attacks become more ubiquitous and sophisticated. Customers rely on Microsoft Security solutions to reduce the impact of these attack and on partners to help them get up and running faster. These four new Security, Compliance, and Identity certifications are tailored to your roles and needs, so you can see growth wherever you are in your skilling journey:
- Microsoft Certified: Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals Helps individuals get familiar with the fundamentals of security, compliance, and identity across cloud-based and related Microsoft services.
- Microsoft Certified: Information Protection Administrator Associate Focuses on planning and implementing controls that meet organizational compliance needs.
- Microsoft Certified: Security Operations Analyst Associate certification Helps security operational professionals design threat protection and response systems.
- Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate certification Helps individuals design, implement, and operate an organization’s identity and access management systems by using Azure Active Directory.
To learn more about these new certifications and to sign up to take the exam, please visit Microsoft Certifications.
Crafting your Modern Work & Security certification roadmap
The willingness of IT professionals to leverage all the resources that can help digital transformation initiatives succeed will be critical and is the essence of a growth mindset. While research consistently shows that training and certification lead to greater performance, this research indicates another benefit of certification: certified IT professionals are better able to adopt new processes and skills, and to apply them to the benefit of their organization.
Ready to jump in? We recommend starting with these certifications based on your role:
- Sales and analyst roles: Microsoft 365 Fundamentals
- Security roles: Microsoft 365 Security Administrator Associate
- Microsoft Teams roles: Microsoft 365 Teams Administrator Associate
- Developer roles: Microsoft 365 Developer Associate
See our complete portfolio of certifications for Microsoft 365, designed to meet industry and market needs, with roles, skills, and capabilities needed for the job, including specializations, hands-on experience, and practice requirements.
Curate your Microsoft 365 learning path
Once you’ve mastered the basics with Microsoft 365 Fundamentals (MS-900), you can continue to expand your technical skillset according to your role and specialties:
Role-based certifications – Associate-level
- Microsoft 365 Modern Desktop Administrator (MD-100, MD-101)
- Microsoft 365 Messaging Administrator (MS-203)
- Microsoft 365 Security Administrator (MS-500)
- Microsoft 365 Teams Administrator (MS-600)
- Microsoft 365 Developer Associate (MS-700)
Role-based certifications – Expert-level
- Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrator Expert (MS-100, MS-101)
Each certification has one or more exams associated with it as well as a learning path. Here is an example of the learning path for the Microsoft 365 Fundamentals (MS-900) exam:
Modern Work & Security partner enablement resource guide
Leverage the Modern Work & Security partner enablement resource guide to find a simplified view of the key upcoming training opportunities available to partners, training resources for our Microsoft 365 role-based exams, learning journeys across Microsoft Teams and Security, and other key resources to support you and your organization on your skilling journey.
| Renew your certification at no cost On December 15, Microsoft introduced a new approach to help learners stay current. Those who have an active certification expiring within six months can renew their certification annually – at no cost – by passing a renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn. Learn more. |
With new certifications and a new (no-cost) certification renewal program, there has never been a better time to pursue Modern Work & Security certifications.
Explore all Microsoft certifications
- Watch our Value of Microsoft Certifications video
- Review certifications at-a-glance with the Microsoft Certification poster
- Examine certification learning paths with the Training and certification guide
Originally posted on US Partner Blog April 7, 2021
